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THE    COUNTRY    HOME 


THE 

COUNTRY  HOME 

LIBRARY 

VOL.  I 
The  Country  Home 

VOL.  II 

The  Orchard  and  Fruit 
Garden 

VOL.  Ill 
The  Flower  Garden 

UNIFORM  BINDING 

3  Vols.  Postpaid,  $5.00,  Net.  $4.50 


A   TRELLIS   OF 

WOOD 

STRONG    AND    SIMPLE 


The  Country  Home  Library 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME 


■^        BY 


E^Pi^OWELL 


NEW   YORK 

McCLURE,    PHILLIPS    &   CO. 

MCMV 


Copyright,  1904,  by 

McCLURE,   PHILLIPS    &   CO. 

Published  November.  1904  N 


Third  Impression 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DEDICATED  TO  ALL  THOSE  WHO,  WEARY  OF  THE  CON- 
VENTIONALISM AND  CONFINEMENT  OF  CITY  LIFE,  BELIEVE  THAT  THE 
BIRDS  SING  AND  THE  BROOKS  LAUGH  AND  THE  TREES  GROW  AND  THE 
FLOWERS  BLOSSOM  FOR  THEM  ;  AND  THAT  IT  IS  ON  THE  HILLSIDES  AND 
ALONG  THE  VALLEY  SLOPES  THAT  THEY  MAY  FIND  MOST  OF  HAPPINESS, 
CONTENT,   AND  PROSPERITY. 


yf\ 


c^t)'^'^ 


PROPERTY  OF 
A.dt  E.  COLLEQe 


r^^. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTME  '*«" 

I.  Introduction ^ 

II.  Selecting  a  Home 13 

III.  Growing  the  House 36 

IV.  Water  Supply  —  Wells,  Cisterns,  Etc.     ...  60 
V.  Lawns  and  Shrubberies 81 

VI.  Windbreaks  and  Hedges 106 

VII.  Out  in  the  Orchard 126 

VIII.  Strawberries  and  Their  Kin 160 

IX.  Tons  of  Grapes 191 

.    X.  Among  the  Flowers 205 

XI.  Come  and  See  My  Cabbages 233 

XII.  Our  Rivals  —  The  Insects 258 

XIII.  Securing  Our  Allies 283 

XIV.  Cultivating  the  Beautiful 312 

XV.  Happy  Animai^ 327 

XVI.  Nooks  and  Corners 350 

XVII.  Conclusion 368 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

A  Trellis  of  Wood,  Strong  and  Simple  .     .  Frontispiece 

FACING 

PAGE 

Glimpses   of  Cow  Barns,  with    Holsteins   Stand- 
ing IN  the  Brook 16 

The  House  in  Some  Cases  will  be  a  Real  Acquisi- 
tion   22 

A   Place    Combining    the    Useful   and    the   Prof- 
itable     26 

What  You  Want  —  Elbow  Room  for  Your  Tastes  36 
It  Stands  on  a  Knoll  Well  Away  from  Others  58 
The  Most  Beautiful  Thing  in  the  Country  is  a 

Brook 78 

Beautiful  Outlooks  in  the  Valley 82 

Nothing  is  More  Important  than  Planting  Wind- 
breaks    106 

A  Hedge  is  Sometimes    Ornamental  from  a  Modi- 
cum OF  Neglect 124 

Out  IN  the  Orchard 132 

A  Shrubbery  and  a  Flower  Garden 204 

Over  Your  Porch  Run  Crimson  Rambler  Roses  220 
Corn,  This  Glory  of  New  World  Vegetation  .  .  234 
The    Garden   is   the    Out-of-Door    Family    Room     256 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 

PAGE 

Our  Noblest  Servant  and  Companion 284 

A  Home  AMONG  Trees  AND  Flowers 310 

Happy  Animals 328 

Pigs  are  amon'g  the  Most  Sagacious  of  Creatures  344 

Your  House  should  be  a  Part  of  the   Property  366 
No  Life  is  Broader,  Freer,  or  Fuller  than  Life 

ON  THE  Land 380 

The  Field  Road 382 


THE    COUNTRY    HOME 


CHAPTER    ONE 

INTRODUCTION 


1  HiRTY  years  ago  the  great  economic  problem 
of  the  world  was  how  to  check  the  drift  of  popu- 
lation into  congested  city  life.  The  English  and 
German  governments  employed  commissions  to 
investigate  the  problem,  while  in  this  country  the 
labor  department  of  the  government  was  working, 
both  directly  and  indirectly,  on  the  same  prob- 
lem. It  has  happened  that  while  experts  investi- 
gated, Providence  gave  the  solution.  Electricity 
as  a  motive  power  began  to  displace  steam  early  in 
the  nineties.  Rural  telephone  service,  which  had 
been  refused  to  the  country  by  the  Bell  companies, 
as  an  unprofitable  investment,  began  to  spread 
like  spider  webs  all  over  the  valleys  and  hillsides  — 
absolutely  abolishing  farm  isolation.  Free  rural 
mail  delivery  followed,  extending  to  the  outlanders 
privileges  which  had  been  exclusively  urban.  Trol- 
ley roads,  a  little  later,  began  to  creep  around  the 

FmPERTY  usMor 
H.  C.  State  CW^ 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


valleys,  and  feel  their  way  like  fingers  of  fate  up 
between  the  hills.  The  postal  authorities  promise 
now  that  within  four  years  they  will  have  covered 
every  square  mile  of  the  United  States  with  free 
mail  service;  while  well  within  that  time  it  seems 
probable  that  no  reputable  farmhouse  will  be  with- 
out its  telephone.  This  is  an  evolution  that  consti- 
tutes a  revolution.  Urbanism  spreads  out  into 
suburbanism,  and  suburbanism  widens  to  cover  the 
larger  part  of  the  country,  because  the  advantages 
of  contiguity  are  no  longer  suflBcient  to  overcome 
the  advantages  of  individual  living.  The  close  con- 
tact, the  smoky  air,  the  pinched  freedom  of  action, 
the  deprivation  of  orchard  and  garden,  no  longer 
seem  tolerable;  because  they  are  unnecessary. 

The  mischief  of  packing  population  began  with 
the  introduction  of  steam  power.  The  steam  age 
began  about  1830.  Many  of  those  now  living  re- 
member its  inauguration;  some  will  see  its  close. 
In  1891  Professor  Orton,  our  most  eminent  author- 
ity on  coal  and  kindred  subjects,  said  in  a  brilliant 
monograph:  "The  age  of  coal  is  nearly  ended,  and 
with  it  the  reign  of  steam."  All  known  deposits  of 
anthracite  coal  in  the  United  States,  the  Pittsburg 
seam  alone  excepted,  he  aflSrmed,  would  be  ex- 
[41 


ONE]  INTRODUCTION 

hausted  by  1930,  and  that  we  must  react  to  a  more 
quiet  mode  of  life,  and  a  larger  use  of  wood  as  a  fuel. 
Electricity  was  already  working  out  the  solution  of 
the  problem  of  congested  population  —  as  well  as 
the  isolation  of  scattered  population. 

It  is  not  true  that  the  people  deserted  the  country 
for  town  life  because  of  any  lack  of  appreciation  of 
country  comforts,  and  of  the  desirability  of  free  and 
independent  methods  of  living.  Farm  machinery 
had  lessened  the  number  of  men  required  to  do 
farm  work;  while  manufacturing  machinery  gave 
employment  to  larger  numbers  in  the  city.  In  1790 
the  percentage  of  the  population  in  the  cities  of  the 
United  States  was  only  three  and  one-third  per  cent; 
in  1890  it  was  about  thirty  per  cent;  and  in  1900 
fully  one-third  of  all  our  population  was  resident  in 
the  cities  which  contained  more  than  eight  thousand 
people.  In  New  York  State  seventy  per  cent  of  the 
population  was  urban;  in  other  States  it  graded 
from  seventy-six  per  cent  down  to  fifteen  per  cent. 
Conditions  which  thus  drew  the  people  into  masses 
reached  their  maximum  influence  about  1894. 
From  that  date  the  reaction  has  been  steady.  Those 
industries  which  were  taken  away  from  homes  by 
steam  power  are  returning,  to  be  done  by  electric 

[5] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


power.  Articles  of  clothing,  as  well  as  cheese  and 
butter,  are  once  more  becoming  matters  of  domestic 
and  cottage  industry.  The  great  factory  assem- 
blages of  population  are  slowly  giving  way  to  small 
manufacturing  and  agricultural  groups.  In  France 
electric  motors  furnish  power  to  domestic  weavers 
for  about  fifteen  dollars  a  year  for  each  loom.  In 
the  city  of  Lyons  alone,  five  hundred  looms  for 
weaving  have  recently  been  installed  in  private 
homes.  The  results  are  more  regular  employment 
and  an  increase  of  the  earnings  of  the  weaver,  while 
he  becomes  at  the  same  time  owner  of  a  country 
home  and  a  garden  —  if  not  a  large  acreage,  with- 
out rent.  Power  is  secured  from  stock  companies, 
which  supply  electricity  to  a  given  area  —  town  or 
otherwise  —  and  distribute  this  power  to  houses,  at 
a  maximum  charge  of  about  one  dollar  and  fifty 
cents  per  month. 

This  is  the  future  of  country  life.  The  revolu- 
tion that  is  suggested  must  be  at  once  reckoned 
with  by  social  economists.  Industrialism,  and  not 
mere  sentiment,  is  working  away  from  the  cities 
countryward.  We  have,  approximately,  a  solution 
of  the  factory  problem  —  the  overcrowding  of  work- 
men, and  especially  women  and  children,  in  huge 

[6] 


ONE]  INTRODUCTION 


buildings.  By  the  new  conditions  the  physica. 
strain  upon  the  workman  is  reduced,  and  with  him 
can  more  freely  cooperate  the  women  and  children, 
and  the  old  men  of  the  family.  The  sanitary  con- 
ditions in  large  factories,  however  improved,  will 
ever  remain  dangerous  to  the  finest  development  of 
physical  life,  while  the  moral  atmosphere  will  lack 
individualism.  But  the  domestic  manufacturer 
need  not  be  confronted  with  unsanitary  conditions, 
while  working  out  his  individual  tastes  and  living 
his  own  ideal.  These  new  industrial  conditions 
point  toward  cooperative  conditions  of  industry. 
They  indicate  that  the  growth  of  suburbanism  is 
not  to  be  strictly  and  solely  a  development  of  agri- 
culture. During  the  steam  age  there  has  been  a 
sharp  alienation  and  differentiation  of  manufactur- 
ing from  agriculture;  during  the  electric  age  we  may 
look  for  a  much  closer  association.  This  will  be 
a  reminder  of  life  when  our  mothers  spun  and  wove 
the  clothes  of  the  household,  and  our  fathers  not 
only  held  the  plow,  but  made  their  own  shoes  and 
built  their  own  houses.  There  will,  however,  be  a 
differentiation  of  industries  even  when  the  factory 
is  abolished.  The  problem  with  which  social  econ- 
omists have  been  wrestling,  and  which  has  taxed 
[7] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


the  energies  of  civilization,  is  evidently  within  the 
grip  of  industrial  laws.  Cities  are  still  growing, 
but  they  are  growing  at  a  greatly  reduced  ratio. 
Summing  up  all  statistics  for  comparison,  we  find 
that,  of  the  increase  of  population  between  1880  and 
1890,  considerably  over  sixty  per  cent  went  into  our 
larger  cities;  but  between  1890  and  1900  the  pro- 
portion that  was  added  to  urban  life  was  reduced 
to  a  little  over  thirty  per  cent.  Since  1900  the  ratio 
has  been  reduced  still  farther.  Public  sentiment 
is  becoming  enlightened,  and  the  taste  for  country 
life  is  rising  almost  to  enthusiasm. 

Meanwhile  another  remarkable  evolution  is  tak- 
ing place  in  the  reorganization  of  the  school  system. 
The  new  town  is  becoming  a  school  town ;  that  is, 
the  school  is  rapidly  becoming  the  center  of  town 
life.  It  is  no  longer  the  tavern  or  the  saloon  or  the 
village  store  that  controls  public  sentiment;  but 
prospectively  the  school  is  to  be  the  center  of  the 
town  unit.  The  rural  schoolmaster  is  departed, 
and  with  him  the  roadside  district  school.  With 
the  graded  school  comes  in  a  remarkable  advance 
in  the  grade  of  teachers;  and  their  influence  is  felt 
through  the  town,  as  well  as  within  the  school. 
The  school  building  is  open,  not  only  for  the  train- 

[8] 


ONE]  INTRODUCTION 


ing  of  children,  but  for  night  classes,  for  lectures, 
and  for  various  musical  and  art  associations.  This 
consolidation  of  the  town  about  the  school  brings 
the  homes  and  the  school  into  closer  relation,  and 
harmonizes  all  the  intellectual  and  moral  life  of 
the  community. 

Our  first  care  must  be  the  creation  of  real  country 
homes.  Here  we  shall  have  the  primal  art  of  nature 
to  assist  us,  with  its  latest  interpretations  by  science. 
It  is  a  new  thought  of  high  art  that  is  growing  among 
the  people,  that  instead  of  buying  pictures  to  hang 
on  our  walls,  we  may  better  create  them  on  the  sod, 
with  living  plants  and  running  brooks.  Literature 
also  is  turning  its  face  country  ward.  Nature  books 
rival  novels  in  popular  use.  They  express  the  new 
stage  of  social  evolution,  and  confirm  the  desire  to 
escape  from  the  limitations  of  city  conditions.  In 
other  words,  we  are  going  back,  and  to  what  God 
wrought  —  intending  to  cowork  with  him. 

The  object  of  this  book  is  to  meet  the  growing 
tide  as  it  moves  from  congested  cities  into  the  free- 
dom of  home-making  in  the  country;  and  we  shall 
aim  to  add,  as  far  as  possible,  influences  to  broaden 
life  in  its  new  environment.  Having  gone  over  the 
road  myself,  with  the  advantage  of  having  been 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


country  born  and  country  bred,  I  shall  perhaps  be 
able  to  help  others  to  avoid  mistakes,  and  take 
quicker  advantage  of  opportunity.  Whoever  seeks 
the  country  should  seek  it  for  a  definite  purpose, 
and  understand  that  he  must  educate  himself  to 
make  that  purpose  workable.  There  is  study 
ahead,  as  well  as  work.  You  will  find  no  industry 
so  complex  as  agriculture  —  rightly  pursued.  Every 
science  will  have  to  be  subsidized  for  help.  There  is, 
however,  sufficient  common  purpose  in  going  back 
to  the  land,  to  make  the  book  I  offer  of  practical 
use  to  a  wide  range  of  readers.  I  shall  not  theorize, 
but  shall  deal  with  facts;  and  while  telling  what 
may  be  done  by  the  many,  will  only  describe  that 
which  has  already  been  accomplished  by  the  few. 
Fifty  years  ago  suburbanism  meant  the  building 
of  villas  and  mansions  in  the  outskirts  of  cities  — 
as  going  into  the  country  meant  going  to  Newport 
and  Saratoga.  Democracy  in  country  development 
is  displacing  aristocracy.  Suburbanism  means 
to-day  a  movement  of  the  people  all  along  the  line, 
to  adjust  themselves  to  home-making,  apart  from, 
and  generally  remote  from  large  nuclei  of  popula- 
tion. Books,  published  fifty  years  ago  on  country 
life,  sketched  objectless  buildings  with  city  plots 

[10] 


one]  introduction 

about  them.  For  poor  people  they  designed  arbor- 
like buildings  with  fancy  turrets  and  pinnacles;  and 
for  the  wealthy  they  offered  Fifth  Avenue  palaces, 
to  be  constructed  along  boulevards.  This  book  has 
nothing  to  do  with  boulevards  or  villas.  I  aim  sim- 
ply to  go  out  with  the  people  who  have  a  heart  sick- 
ness after  life  in  the  green  fields,  and  to  help  them 
as  I  can  in  adjusting  conditions  to  desires,  or  desires 
to  conditions.  What  we  want  in  the  country  is 
men  and  women  who  intend  to  live  as  common- 
sense  folk;  will  lift  the  social  level  with  simple  broth- 
erhood, high  aspirations,  and  a  humanity  filled  with 
Godliness  —  unaffected,  pure  in  heart,  and  demo- 
cratic. 

This  book  will  not  concern  itself  specifically  with 
cooperative  colonies.  These  are  hopeful,  and 
those  in  charge  of  the  Salvation  Army  are  promising 
to  be  successful.  My  appeal  must  be  to  individual- 
ism and  to  individuals;  to  men  and  women  who 
have  had  their  eyes  opened  to  the  folly  of  that  sort 
of  life,  which  characterizes  the  bulk  of  our  city 
population  —  a  population  where  cooperation  has 
dropped  into  deadly  competition,  and  where  money 
has  become  absolute.  A  studious  man,  or  woman, 
on  a  small  farm,  possessed  of  industry  and  intelli- 
[11] 


THE    C  O  U  N  T  It  Y    HO  M  E  [chapter 


gence,  needs  very  little  capital,  but  can  win  a  decent 
living  out  of  the  soil.  We  must  dread  most  of  all 
the  herding  instinct,  and  any  tendency  of  folk  to 
become  unable  to  live  out  of  elbow  contact  with 
their  neighbors.  My  purpose,  in  fine,  is  to  help 
you  to  get  acquainted  with  the  trees,  bugs,  brooks, 
and  birds;  to  develop  a  capacity  for  society  with 
things,  and  to  open  that  big  book  whose  pages  are 
pastures  and  forests  and  meadows,  and  farm-clad 
hillsides.  We  shall  have  very  little  to  do,  or  to  say, 
concerning  the  accumulation  of  wealth ;  but  much 
of  the  evolution  of  a  simple  life,  where  wealth  is  of 
little  importance.  In  the  country  our  first  aim  is 
not  to  amass,  put  to  produce;  not  so  much  to  spend, 
as  to  create. 


[12] 


CHAPTER    TWO 
SELECTING    A    HOME 


W  E  face  the  most  difficult  problem  at  the  outset, 
and  I  assure  you  this  is  the  most  difficult  chapter 
for  me  to  write.  There  are  so  many  kind  of  folk, 
and  so  many  sorts  of  places,  that  to  put  them  to- 
gether with  any  nicety  and  fitness  is  a  serious  prob- 
lem. Nature  hates  uniformity  and  conformity. 
Even  on  the  prairie  it  will  be  impossible  to  find  two 
localities  exactly  alike.  Among  our  hills  and  val- 
leys, how  glorious  is  the  variety  of  knolls,  swales, 
nooks,  slopes,  and  brook-visited  meadows,  where 
one  may  pronounce  the  word  Home  with  delight  ? 
What  we  add  to  these  various  places  should  be  as 
unlike  as  they  are  themselves  dissimilar. 

Suppose  we  take  a  trolley  where  it  runs  its  fingers 
up  into  the  little  valleys,  and  look  about  among 
what  used  to  be  isolated  farmhouses.  Perhaps 
you  would  prefer  to  secure  a  ride  with  Rural  Free 
Mail  carrier,  Route  16,  and  go  over  the  hills  where 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


the  corn  fields  or  the  hop  fields  stand  in  rich  allu- 
vial, and  where  orchards  divide  the  clover  fields, 
while  there  are  still  some  bits  of  original  forest  in 
sight  —  maple,  beech,  and  ash,  nearly  always  flank- 
ed with  butternut,  chestnut,  or  walnut.  Do  you 
see  anything  anywhere  that  you  would  like  to  call 
your  own  ?  I  do  not  doubt  but  that  in  half  an 
hour's  ride  you  will  have  craved  a  dozen  spots,  and 
you  will  hardly  know  which  one  you  like  the  best. 

The  right  sort  of  location  ought  to  please  on 
sight.  You  will  recognize  something  of  yourself 
when  you  see  the  place  where  you  ought  to  estab- 
lish your  home.  The  fact  is,  every  one  of  us  has 
already  grown  a  good  many  tastes,  opinions,  emo- 
tions; and  probably  some  whims,  that  we  shall 
have  to  outgrow;  and  these  must  be  gratified,  in 
selecting  a  location,  or  they  will  make  trouble  here- 
after. 

Those  who  go  to  distant  states,  where  climate  and 
soil  and  trees  are  all  novel,  are  homesick  for  old 
scenes  and  old  conditions.  Do  not  go  into  the  coun- 
try unless  you  can  find  some  place  that  recognizes 
you  and  will  make  itself  familiar  with  you  —  that 
is,  appear  homelike.  I  have  friends  who  feel  that 
there  is  nothing  like  a  broad,  flat,  level  meadow  for 

[U] 


two]  selecting   a   home 

beauty  and  for  comfort ;  nothing  like  a  prairie  for  a 
farm.  For  my  part,  I  shall  have  to  live  on  a  hill- 
side, or  be  miserable.  I  do  not  wish  to  see  all  crea- 
tion; but  really  a  good  share  of  it,  in  miniature, 
suits  my  present  selfhood.  I  want  a  nesting  place 
where  the  hills  clap  their  hands  for  joy  and  say,  "Be- 
hold what  God  hath  made  for  man! "  In  such  a 
place  one  can  do  a  great  deal  for  God,  and  for  him- 
self. Look  about  and  see  how  man  has  fitted  into 
these  glacier-carved  valleys.  Count  the  orchards 
that  have  displaced  the  forests;  and  see  how  the 
creeks  are  turning  mills,  and  how  everything  else 
is  waiting  on  the  master,  man. 

There  are  so  many  delightful  spots;  and  we  are 
going  to  have  a  home  where  the  squirrels  chatter, 
and  the  birds  sing,  and  the  beechnuts  fall  like  hail. 
Spell  that  word  HOME  in  big  capitals;  for  it  is  only 
in  the  country  that  one  can  find  the  best  home-mak- 
ing material.  The  brooks  are  tumbling  out  of  the 
gorges  and  jumping  down  the  declivities  for  us; 
bluebirds  and  robins  are  singing  to  welcome  us; 
and  the  sun  will  spend  its  rays  in  creating  for  us 
golden  harvests.  There  are  so  many  beautiful 
homing  spots  unoccupied  that  one  wishes  he  might 
live  at  once  a  dozen  lives.     I  never  drive  along  an 

[15] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


unfrequented  road  without  seeing  places  that  seem 
to  beckon  to  me  to  come  and  make  up  ready  mate- 
rial into  a  home.  New  England  has  hundreds  of 
places  that  make  me  homesick  to  leave  behind;  it  is 
the  same  in  lake-dotted  Wisconsin,  and  in  Michigan, 
with  her  walnuts  and  hickories,  and  rivers  senti- 
nelled with  oaks  and  pines.  I  selected  Central 
New  York  and  the  Oriskany  Valley  as,  of  all,  the 
homefullest  spot  in  America.  I  shall  not  expect  to 
win  you  all  for  immediate  neighbors ;  but  this  is  an 
age  when  we  can  whisper  across  a  continent,  and 
gird  the  world  with  our  "  good  morning." 

All  this  time  we  are  on  our  hunt  for  a  home,  a 
place  where  we  may  plant  ourselves,  and  grow. 
The  trolley  whisks  us  by  red  cottages,  half  hid  among 
pear  trees;  other  brown  ones  that  are  perched  on 
knolls,  where  the  owners  are  husking  corn  —  them- 
selves seated  on  huge  pumpkins,  while  jokes  fly  as 
fast  as  the  ears ;  for  husking-bees  are  not  yet  quite 
things  of  the  past.  Here  and  there  we  look  up  the 
most  delightful  side  roads,  where  we  get  glimpses 
of  cow  barns,  with  Holsteins  standing  in  the  brooks, 
whisking  flies  from  their  backs;  while  others  lie 
chewing  cuds  under  the  willows  or  the  apple  trees. 
Your  mood  changes  with  the  scene ;  yet  everywhere 

[16] 


two]  selecting   a   home 


you  have  one  deepening  conviction  that  man  was 
never  intended  to  live  out  of  relation  with  nature. 
You  think  of  rows  of  city  houses  as  so  many  graded 
prisons.  Those  who  live  in  them,  even  in  artificial 
luxury,  are  deprived  of  the  very  best  that  God  pre- 
pares for  us  to  enjoy. 

At  the  close  of  the  first  day  we  will  sit  down  for  a 
council.  We  have  seen  and  taken  notes  of  a  dozen 
most  inviting  places  —  spots  that  seem  to  need  us, 
just  as  we  need  them.  There  are  many  things  to 
consider;  our  pockets  as  well  as  our  eyes,  our  hands 
as  well  as  our  heads.  It  is  folly  to  undertake  a  task 
that  will  be  beyond  our  experience,  and  will  so  over- 
burden us  with  novel  cares  that  we  shall  stop  in  de- 
spair, and  crawl  back  into  town  life.  You  may  be 
sure  of  one  thing  —  that  no  work  needs  more  tact, 
patience,  resolution,  and  wit  than  that  of  the  farm. 
A  home  in  the  country  during  the  twentieth  century 
will  mean  the  liveliest  sort  of  intellectual  activity. 

In  the  first  place,  we  do  not  want  too  large  a  place ; 
only  what  we  can  manage  and  completely  master. 
Most  of  us  will  not  be  experienced  land-tillers,  and 
would  not  know  what  to  do  with  a  hundred  acres, 
if  given  to  us.  Besides  this,  the  old  style  of  exten- 
sive farming  is  now  steadily  passing  out  in  favor  of 

[17] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chafier 


intensive  farming.  This  means  so  cultivating  a 
few  acres  as  to  get  more  out  of  them  than  the  old- 
fashioned  farmer  used  to  get  from  ten  times  as 
many  acres.  Probably  ten  acres  to  twenty  will  be 
all  that  any  one  of  us  can  comprehend  and  put  to 
the  best  use.  Five  acres  is  the  wiser  limit  for  one 
who  has  spent  most  of  his  life  in  factories,  or  in 
mercantile  work.  There  are  some  exceptions,  where 
heredity  speaks  out  strongly,  and  one  has  an  in- 
stinct for  land  improvement. 

The  second  point  to  be  careful  about,  is  not  to 
go  too  far  from  the  city.  It  is  not  yet  possible  to 
restore  the  old-time  independence  of  country  life. 
Cities  will  pour  out  a  big  multitude  into  the  free 
fields;  yet  cities  will  remain.  They  will  be  our 
markets  for  a  century  to  come.  We  need  the  non- 
producing  crowds  to  buy  our  potatoes  and  apples 
and  garden  stuff;  so  do  not  locate  too  far  from  the 
market. 

The  third  point  to  consider  is  the  lay  of  the  land. 
Generally  avoid  facing  northwest  winds.  Locate 
where  you  will  be  shielded  to  the  windward  with 
either  hills,  or  forests,  or  both.  In  some  parts  of 
the  country  it  will  be  easy  to  take  advantage  of  the 
protective  influence  of  a  natural  wood  belt ;  yet  you 

[18] 


Twro]  SELECTING   A   HOME 


must  become,  if  possible,  the  owner  of  such  a  belt 
of  timber,  or  it  will  be  cut  down  after  you  have 
planted  yourself  under  its  shelter.  This  is  a  matter 
of  far  more  importance  than  appears  on  a  pleasant 
summer  day.  Temperature  often  varies  two  or 
three  degrees  within  an  eighth  of  a  mile.  While  it 
is  true  that  you  must  master  conditions  wherever 
you  go,  you  do  not  need  to  make  the  life-struggle 
more  serious  by  an  ill-chosen  location.  Perhaps 
you  do  not  know,  yet  it  is  true  that  climate  so  varies 
that  fruit-growing,  which  is  favorably  carried  on 
under  the  shelter  of  a  range  of  hills,  is  barely  possi- 
ble in  the  valley,  and  impossible  at  the  top  of  the 
range.  The  best  position,  as  a  rule,  faces  the  south- 
east —  with  the  colder  winds  broken  by  the  hills 
above.  Such  an  exposure  also  takes  the  morning 
sunshine,  which  is  especially  conducive  to  plant- 
health  and  growth.  But  it  is  not  your  orchard  that 
you  must  alone  provide  for;  you  are  going  to  grow 
children,  and  these  will  need  the  best  possible  nat- 
ural conditions  for  health  and  sweetness.  Condi- 
tions that  will  grow  a  first-rate  Northern  Spy  apple 
are  none  too  good  for  growing  red-cheeked  and 
warm-hearted  children.  A  southeast  exposure 
gathers  the  heat  all  day,  and  is  prepared  to  resist 

[19] 


THE    COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 

cold  at  night.  In  the  spring  or  the  autumn  you  will 
escape  frost,  when  your  neighbors  not  far  away  will 
lose  their  tomatoes  and  corn. 

Avoid  homing  near  a  swamp  —  certainly  a 
swamp  that  you  cannot  control  and  drain.  We  are 
getting  more  light  on  the  mosquito  question;  yet  it 
is  not  worth  our  while  to  select  this  kind  of  a  battle- 
field. A  hillside  is  far  better,  or  a  slope  that  looks 
over  a  valley,  unless  your  culture  is  to  be  specifi- 
cally that  of  plants  that  need  a  mucky  soil  —  such 
as  celery.  Our  Eastern  States  afford  a  vastly 
greater  variety  of  locations  than  the  prairie  states, 
where,  however,  the  conditions  are  easily  under- 
stood, and  where  there  is  compensation  in  depth 
of  soil  and  easily  cultivated  crops. 

In  this  hunt  of  ours  we  shall  find  that  there  are 
hundreds  of  old  country  places  for  sale.  These 
may  be  tolerably  pleasant  as  they  are  —  with 
the  single  exception  that  they  express  other  folk. 
Most  of  them  will,  however,  need,  and  are  capable 
of,  transformation.  If  I  were  to  take  my  choice  I 
should  select  one  so  far  run  down  that  little  is  left  of 
the  old  ownership.  Then  I  would  begin  to  study, 
and  to  plan  renovation  —  always  a  delight,  if  you 
can  see  your  way  through.     There  will  be  piles  of 

[20] 


two]  selecting   a   home 


brush  to  be  cut  from  the  untrimmed  trees,  and  you 
must  learn  your  first  lesson  in  country  economy  — 
that  is,  to  save  the  wood  and  use  the  ashes.  You 
will  perhaps  retain  a  residence  in  the  city  while 
you  are  having  the  more  important  changes  worked 
out  and  your  first  garden  is  planted.  But  as  soon 
as  there  is  safe  water  and  good  shelter,  I  recom- 
mend you  to  move  onto  your  new  place,  and  begin 
to  grow  to  it,  or  make  it  grow  to  you.  Do  not  get 
in  a  hurry  at  any  point,  but  study  every  feature  of 
the  property,  and  move  with  deliberation. 

I  have  laid  out  and  planted  several  places  for 
myself,  and  for  others,  and  I  always  do  it  first  on 
paper.  We  can  do  it  over  and  over  again  in  that 
way,  until  we  get  the  proper  relations  of  things.  Al- 
most surely  you  will  find  that  there  are  some  things 
about  any  old  place  that  are  valuable  to  retain  —  a 
few  choice  trees  can  certainly  be  made  companion- 
able. The  house,  in  some  cases,  will  be  a  real  ac- 
quisition —  quaint,  human,  homeful.  In  the  gar- 
den you  will  find  some  old  plum  trees,  and  in  the 
corner,  mixed  with  weeds,  you  will  find  sage  and 
wormwood.  Currant  bushes  and  possibly  berries 
are  half  covered  with  grass,  but  can  be  transplanted 
into  a  cleaner  garden.     The  charm  of  it  is  that  you 

[21] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


cannot  do  all  the  transforming  at  once  —  it  is  a 
growth.  Meanwhile  you  are  yourselves  transform- 
ing, and  are  seeing  more  clearly  what  is  natural  and 
beautiful  and  wise.  I  myself  prefer  that  the  plot 
that  you  select  be  without  a  house;  but  have  a  grove 
and  an  orchard,  or  at  least  a  few  trees.  It  may 
have  been  a  pasture;  and  if  so  the  soil  will  not  be 
barren,  although  it  will  greatly  need  cultivation. 
More  likely,  in  buying  an  old  place  you  will  fiild 
confusion.  A  dozen  ideas  of  successive  owners 
or  tenants  will  have  grown  over  each  other,  and 
created  a  snarl,  which  will  tax  your  patience  to 
straighten  out. 

We  must,  however,  get  at  this  matter  more  spe- 
cifically, and  find  out  what  each  one  proposes  to  do 
in  the  country.  That  is  not  very  unlike  asking, 
What  are  you  ?  What  do  you  want  of  the  trees  and 
the  soil  ?  I  should  like  to  feel  that  every  one  of  you 
intend  to  establish  frank,  honest  relations  with 
the  material  world  —  or  a  piece  of  it  —  yourself 
furnishing  the  soul.  That  is,  you  mean  to  open 
your  mind  to  the  physical  universe;  and  so  let  the 
universe  open  its  mind  to  you.  You  do  not  intend 
to  build  a  home  with  your  eyes  shut,  and  your  ears 
shut,  and  even  your  sense  of  .^^mell  aborted      "Of 

[22] 


two]  selecting  a  home 


course  not,"  you  say;  "it  is  absurd  to  suppose  it." 
It  is  absurd,  sure  enough;  but  I  am  confident  that 
most  people  in  the  country  do  not  see,  or  hear,  or 
even  smell  adequately.  They  know  almost  nothing 
of  what  is  going  on  about  them.  Any  bird  is  just  a 
bird.  An  apple  tree  is  an  apple  tree,  and  nothing 
more.  They  have  no  intimate  acquaintances 
among  the  bushes  and  the  animal  creatures.  "Yes," 
said  a  visitor,  "this  is  fine;  but  it  must  be  awfully 
lonesome."  I  said,  "I  had  forgotten  that.  It  is 
indeed  lonesome  until  you  get  acquainted.  Do 
you  hear  that  tree  toad  ?  He  is  an  acquaintance  of 
mine.  Do  you  hear  that  catbird  ?  He  is  a  close 
friend  of  mine.  Then  do  you  see  that  every  bush 
and  every  tree  I  myself  have  planted,  and  I  know 
its  life-thought  and  purpose .?  Lonesome.^  The 
city  is  the  place  in  which  to  be  all  alone." 

The  day  laborer,  the  lawyer,  the  merchant,  the 
school  teacher  are  all  seeking  country  homes  for  dif- 
ferent reasons.  I  have  a  letter  from  a  Philadelphia 
schoolma'am  who  says,  "I  am  dead  tired  of  this 
treadmill  work.  If  I  could  have  a  school  and  carry 
out  my  own  ideals  I  would  enjoy  it.  So  far  Amer- 
ican education  has  looked  out  for  the  individuality 
of  the  pupils,  but  has  forgotten  that  the  teacher 

[23] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


has  any.  I  must  carry  out  other  people's  feeUngs 
and  views.  Very  well,  I  am  going  into  the  country 
to  make  a  home  for  mine  own  self.  I  have  about 
two  thousand  dollars  to  use,  and  now  I  want  your 
advice.  Can  a  woman  make  a  living  in  the  country, 
without  a  man  to  take  care  of  her  ?  Why  cannot  I 
keep  bees,  or  raise  chickens  for  broilers,  or  have  a 
greenhouse,  or  grow  small  fruits  ?  "  To  be  sure,  you 
can  do  all  or  any  of  these  things,  if,  with  a  small 
capital,  you  have  grit  and  judgment.  Another  letter 
is  from  a  young  fellow  who  says,  "I  was  born  in 
the  country,  but  my  schooling  did  not  fit  me  for  life 
on  the  farm ;  it  only  taught  me  how  to  '  do  busi- 
ness ' ;  I  did  not  understand  that  farming  is  business. 
City  life  seemed  to  me  something  better  and  larger 
than  country  life,  and  handling  capital  to  be  the 
greatest  possible  ambition.  I  have  done  business, 
and  I  have  handled  capital.  I  begin  to  see  now 
that  my  life  is  not  broad,  but  desperately  narrow. 
I  wish  my  children  to  grow  up  with  the  trees  and  the 
birds.  I  should  like  your  advice  about  how  to  get 
a  home,  where  we  shall  be  right  in  the  line  of  what 
I  call  modern  progress  —  that  is,  progress  toward 
simple  and  natural  life.  I  shall  gradually  let  go 
of  city  work,  and  my  ambition  will  be  to  create 

[24] 

n.  C.  State  College 


two]  selecting   a   home 


a  country  home  that  will  pay  its  own  way."  That 
is  the  sort  of  home  this  book  is  intended  to  lead 
toward.  Anyone  with  a  decent  start  can  make 
the  most  beautiful  home  in  the  country  pay  its  own 
way  —  that  we  lay  down  as  a  fundamental  princi- 
ple, that  the  useful  and  the  beautiful  can  go  to- 
gether. 

Our  friend  the  school  teacher  may  take  a  wide 
range  of  choice.  If  bee-keeping  is  selected,  it  should 
certainly  be  in  connection  with  the  growing  of  small 
fruits.  Bees  make  large  quantities  of  honey  from 
orchard  flowers  and  from  the  small-fruit  garden. 
In  another  chapter  I  shall  explain  the  value  to  the 
bee-keeper  of  linden  trees  —  or,  as  they  are  com- 
monly called,  basswoods.  But  if  you  determine  to 
grow  flowers  your  market  should  not  be  remote. 
Florists  thrive  best  in  the  near  suburbs  of  cities.  I 
know,  however,  a  woman  who  makes  a  splendid 
living  raising  turkeys,  and  she  is  located  forty  miles 
from  market.  There  is  always  a  splendid  opening 
in  the  way  of  growing  fowls  and  furnishing  eggs; 
and  this  occupation  does  not  positively  require  that 
you  live  near  a  city. 

Whatever  occupation  you  make  a  specialty,  bear 
in  mind  that,  with  modern,  scientific  methods,  more 

[25] 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME 


money  is  made  and  a  better  living  won  from  ten 
acres  of  intensive  farming  than  from  ten  times  that 
number  of  acres  broadly  tilled.  I  have  but  nine 
acres,  and  they  are  at  least  one-half  devoted  to  orna- 
mental trees,  shrubs,  and  flowers ;  yet  I  find  it  possi- 
ble to  sell  from  one  thousand  to  twelve  hundred  dol- 
lars worth  each  year  of  small  fruits.  Flowers,  if 
sold,  might  add  to  this  cash  income.  Such  a  place, 
combining  the  beautiful  and  the  profitable,  must  in 
all  cases  be  located  at  no  great  distance  from  a  good 
market.  Trolley  lines  will,  however,  soon  be  picking 
up  our  loaded  wagons  and  hauling  them  to  market ; 
—  so  that  we  may  have  our  gardens  twenty-five  or 
possibly  fifty  miles  from  the  city.  At  present  I 
should  prefer  not  to  be  more  than  from  six  to  ten 
miles  from  my  customers.  Even  this  will  necessi- 
tate very  early  rising,  and  considerable  loss  of  time 
in  driving  to  and  fro.  The  market  gardener  has  the 
same  requirements  as  to  distance;  while  he  must 
look  more  carefully  as  to  depth  of  soil.  Fruit  re- 
quires strong  clay;  truck  or  vegetables  require  more 
loam  and  sand.  For  this  reason  the  grower  of 
vegetables  must  generally  locate  on  the  flat  lands 
and  the  river  bottoms,  while  the  fruit  grower  seeks 
the  hillsides  and  plants  under  the  shelter  of  the 

[26] 


two]  selecting   a   home 


forests.     I  do  not  consider  any  of  these  lines  of  work 
naturally  distasteful  or  inappropriate  to  woman. 

The  day  laborer  needs  the  country  quite  as  much 
as  the  man  of  capital,  but  for  different  reasons.  In 
the  first  place  he  has  his  home  free  of  rent,  and  in 
the  second  place  he  can  increase  his  dietary  by 
home-grown  vegetables  and  fruit.  He  can  also 
keep  a  cow  and  pigs.  Nor  is  it  a  small  item  in  his 
suburban  home  that  he  can  raise  alfalfa  enough  to 
feed  a  horse.  But  in  the  third  place  he  can  give  his 
children  a  chance  out  of  the  streets,  and  can  asso- 
ciate their  ambitions  with  the  thought  of  home  life. 
It  is  a  sad  lot  for  a  family  of  children  to  grow  up 
without  being  able  to  speak  of  any  spot  in  the  world 
as  their  own  home.  Transit  will  not,  however,  let 
the  day  laborer  exercise  so  freely  the  choice  of  loca- 
tion. He  must  go  back  and  forth  to  the  city,  every 
morning  and  night,  and  with  speed.  He  will  not  be 
able,  as  a  rule,  to  care  for  a  large  lot,  while  he  must 
locate  within  easy  reach  of  factory,  or  shop,  or  store. 
He  is  also  least  prepared,  by  training,  to  come  out 
of  herded  life,  because  less  actuated  by  individual- 
ized tastes.  This  is  fortunate,  however,  because  it 
is  not  yet  possible  for  the  largest  cities  to  move  the 
whole  population  to  and  fro  as  easily  as  a  completed 

[^27] 


THE   COTJNTRY   HOME  [chafteb 


suburbanism  will  demand.  Yet  there  remains  no 
reason  why,  in  all  but  the  most  massive  cities,  the 
tenement  system  should  not  loosen  its  hold  upon 
the  common  laborer,  and  release  him  from  its  horri- 
ble confusion,  with  its  grime  and  smoke. 

A  good  country  home  for  a  man  who  goes  daily 
into  a  city  as  a  teamster  or  porter,  should  contain 
at  least  one  acre  and  a  half,  and  be  two  miles  by 
trolley  from  the  city  line  —  adding  a  few  rods  of 
walk  from  the  station.  I  know  such  a  home  on  a 
side  street,  that  runs,  winding  somewhat,  near  a 
creek,  and  not  far  from  a  grove  of  maples.  From 
the  door  can  be  seen  a  half  dozen  similar  homes,  a 
smithy,  and  a  large  truck  farm.  On  this  truck  farm 
are  employed  other  laborers,  who  originally  came 
from  the  city.  The  ground  is  sloping  and  sufficient- 
ly irregular  to  give  easy  and  good  drainage.  The 
house  is  a  pretty,  eight-room  structure,  planted  in  a 
plain  garden,  where  there  are  a  dozen  apple  trees, 
with  intermingled  pear  trees,  plum  trees  and  cher- 
ries. Besides  these  there  are  currant  bushes  and 
raspberries  enough  for  a  small  family.  Near  the 
corner  of  the  house  are  three  hives  of  bees.  You 
see  also  that  there  is  a  cow  in  the  shed.  It  is  not 
altogether  a  model  house  or  a  model  home;  but  it 


two]  selecting   a   home 


gives  the  owner  fresh  fruit  and  vegetables  and  his 
winter  potatoes,  while  it  lowers  his  meat  bill,  be- 
cause he  has  his  own  milk  and  chickens  and  eggs, 
while  he  is  forming  the  habit  of  using  more  fruit. 
In  the  course  of  five  years,  by  saving  rent  and  keep- 
ing well  on  a  better  diet,  a  horse  has  been  added  to 
the  family  group.  When  this  was  done  the  wife 
and  children  could  enjoy  life  better,  and  they  could 
much  enlarge  and  improve  their  garden.  The  wife, 
a  woman  of  common  sense,  found  a  few  private 
customers  for  her  eggs,  apples  and  vegetables.  This 
led  to  more  berries  and  flowers,  until  her  income 
equaled  that  of  her  husband.  If  this  book  gets  into 
the  hands  of  many  such  people  —  and  that  is  just 
what  I  wish  —  I  would  say,  be  sure  of  one  thing, 
that  you  do  not  indulge  in  shame  for  any  honest 
work.  It  is  not  a  disgrace  to  sell  —  peddle,  if  you 
choose  to  call  it  —  what  you  have  the  wit  to  produce. 
Above  all,  keep  out  of  your  children's  heads  that 
earning  is  less  honorable  than  spending.  I  have 
poor  neighbors  who,  for  their  dear  lives'  sake,  would 
not  take  a  load  of  vegetables  or  berries  to  market. 
False  shame  is  always  a  mark  of  degeneracy. 

Riding  between  Boston  and  Albany  I  chanced  to 
sit  with  a  Boston  merchant.     "  I  live  out  here,"  he 

[29] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


said,  "  at  Wellesley  Farms.  Some  days  1  do  not  go 
to  the  city  at  all.  It  is  not  necessary,  because,  by 
telephone,  I  can  keep  in  close  touch  with  my  city 
affairs,  and  can  direct  them  as  well  as  if  in  the  store. 
I  spend  a  large  share  of  my  time  with  experimental 
farming.  You  should  see  my  pears!"  Then  he 
launched  out  into  an  enthusiastic  discourse  on  coun- 
try life,  and  what  it  was  doing  for  health  and  com- 
fort and  intellectual  broadening.  Of  course,  such 
men  have  very  little  to  carry  into  the  country,  except 
money  and  art.  They  will  make  some  comical 
blunders,  but  will  be  sure  to  work  out  notable 
experiments,  and  will  do  a  vast  deal  to  make 
country  life  every  way  more  admirable. 

With  ministers  I  have  special  sympathy  —  men 
who  in  this  age  are  compelled  to  hold  on  largely  to 
the  conservative  past,  and  wear  themselves  out,  be- 
cause they  are  not  allowed  to  adjust  their  work  to 
the  living  present.  They  are  no  longer  allowed  to 
be  pastors  of  the  old,  shepherd  sort,  and  must  be 
keenly  alert  to  hold  their  own,  until  their  nerves  give 
out  with  the  tension.  Then  they  are  "  broken  down 
ministers"  —  sadly  at  loss  for  any  retreat.  Every 
minister  should  cultivate  horticulture ;  and  whatever 
else  he  does  not  do,  he  should  secure  early  in  life  a 

[30] 


two]  selecting   a   home 

vacation  country  home  —  here  he  should  spend  his 
off  weeks,  not  exactly  out  of  harness,  but  cultivating 
a  sympathy  for  nature,  and  allowing  nature  to  ex- 
press a  sympathy  for  him.  In  this  way  he  will  be 
prepared  at  any  time  to  take  care  of  himself,  if 
forced  to  leave  the  professional  field.  Such  a  home 
will  not  only  welcome  him  in  his  old  age  or  ill 
health ;  it  will  also  render  him  more  independent  in 
his  preaching,  and  save  his  manhood  as  well  as 
his  intellectual  vigor. 

It  only  remains  to  sketch  a  country  place  where  a 
family  of  moderate  income  may  retire,without  being 
compelled  to  spend  anything  more  for  its  keep  than 
it  pays  back  in  crops.  This  is  my  ideal  of  a  country 
home.  Whatever  may  be  our  income  otherwise, 
five  or  ten  acres  of  land  should  be  so  handled  as  to 
pay  its  own  way,  and  support  a  family.  With 
rent  removed,  and  many  of  the  conventional  ex- 
penses of  city  life  avoided,  a  family  may  live  in  the 
country  on  from  eight  hundred  to  twelve  hundred 
dollars  a  year.  This  amount  can  be  taken  from  the 
sale  of  crops  without  sacrificing  the  beautiful. 

This  new  home  of  ours,  in  all  its  varieties,  you 
will  observe  has  certain  converging  lines.  The  tide 
outward  from  the  city  is  carrying  the  people,  under 

[31] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


the  influence  of  conditions  that  seem  at  first  quite 
similar  to  those  which  surrounded  our  fathers  of 
seventy-five  years  ago  —  conditions  that  created  a 
great  degree  of  uniformity  in  customs,  and  a  very 
fixed  equaHty  of  privileges.  But  looking  deeper, 
we  shall  see  that  old  things  are  not  to  be  repeated. 
There  will  be  a  combination  of  country  and  city  life 
—  country  freedom  with  city  culture.  New  ideas 
will  take  root  easily,  and  new  methods.  The  latest 
scientific  information  will  be  sought  and  applied. 
No  one  will  be  isolated.  These  new  homes  will  be 
joined  by  telephones,  so  that  they  can  talk  together, 
plan  together,  laugh  together.  I  think  we  shall 
have  an  age  of  real  democracy  —  at  least  of  growing 
democracy. 

I  shall  close  this  chapter  with  a  few  general  hints. 
The  first  of  these  and  one  of  the  most  important 
is  that,  wherever  you  establish  your  home,  you  do 
not  undertake  grading  natural  slopes  into  terraces  or 
levels.  Nature  has  probably  as  much  wit  in  fixing 
the  land  as  you  can  show  with  your  plow  and 
scraper.  The  most  you  should  undertake  is  to  re- 
move unnatural  roughness,  and  fill  up  gullies;  but 
you  should  not  in  any  way  disturb  the  general  lay 
of  the  land.     When  that  sort  of  improvement  is  once 

[32] 


TWO]  SELECTING   A   HOME 


begun,  there  is  no  end  to  it;  and  the  result  is  more 
and  more  unsatisfactory.  It  throws  your  house  lot 
out  of  relation  to  all  the  rest  of  the  land.  I  see  every 
day  a  noble  hillside,  where  the  houses  were  fitted  to 
the  land.  But  there  came  a  wise  man  who  under- 
took to  fit  the  land  to  his  house.  He  created  a  level 
in  the  side  of  a  beautiful  slope.  This  left  a  crude 
bank  above  and  another  below.  These  were  dis- 
agreeable to  look  at,  and  more  than  compensated 
for  the  possible  beauty  of  a  smooth  lawn.  Then  the 
easy-graded  sidewalks  fell  into  steps  and  flats. 
This  remarkable  achievement  in  the  way  of  im- 
proving nature  was  soon  rivaled  by  three  or  four 
more  like  it,  until  now  there  is  neither  form  nor 
comeliness,  nor  a  touch  of  nature  to  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  of  superb  building  sites.  My  readers  will 
find  these  artificialized  hillsides  quite  too  com- 
mon. Where  terraces  are  created  they  have  to  be 
kept  mended  after  every  rain,  and  as  the  arable 
soil  is  mostly  removed,  it  is  always  difficult  to 
sustain  fertility. 

As  a  rule,  take  nature  very  much  as  you  find  her; 
grow  to  your  surroundings,  instead  of  shearing  every 
thing  to  your  preconceived  views.  When  you  have 
done  you  should  have  fitted  yourself  in,  almost  as 

[33] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


simply  as  a  tree  would  have  sprung  up  from  the  soil. 
In  general  terms,  leave  the  artificial  behind  you ;  and 
do  not  undertake  to  create  a  bit  of  city  lawn  right  in 
the  heart  of  nature's  lawn.  Be  simple  and  straight- 
forward in  all  your  relations  to  the  world  around 
you.  No  directions  of  mine  can  guide  you  here. 
What  you  have  to  do  is  to  make  a  thorough  study 
of  nature,  and  of  what  the  brains  of  men  are  natu- 
rally called  upon  to  do  in  the  way  of  improvement. 
I  have  said  nothing  about  fences,  because  there 
should  be  none.  It  is  possible  that  you  will  locate 
where  the  stock  law  is  not  enforced;  and  you  will 
then,  of  course,  be  compelled  to  protect  your  prop- 
erty. But  fencing  against  our  neighbors  is  happily 
becoming  a  thing  of  the  past.  Wherever  it  must  be 
done,  use  wire,  or,  possibly,  hedges.  Hedges  are 
invaluable  on  a  highly  ornamental  place,  but  are 
less  and  less  popular  as  line  or  division  fences.  They 
should  never  be  planted  by  the  street  side.  Wire 
fences, without  barbs,  can  be  constructed  very  neatly 
and  stoutly  and  cheaply,  and  are  so  inconspicuous 
that  they  should  be  preferred  to  boards  and  pickets. 
Stone  fences  may  be  in  themselves  beautiful;  and 
when  run  over  with  ivies  or  bittersweets  are  invalu- 
able as  natural  accessories. 

[84] 


two]  selecting   a   home 


As  your  place  progresses  it  should  express  one 
concrete  single  idea.  Most  places  undertake  to 
make  a  bundle  out  of  gathered  notions.  They  put 
together  as  much  of  the  useful  or  of  the  beautiful, 
or  both,  as  can  be  collected'  by  the  owner.  He  buys 
whatever  he  hears  of  as  desirable,  especially  what 
agents  urge  upon  him,  and  places  his  collections  as 
conspicuously  as  possible  around  his  house.  His 
property  not  only  does  not  express  himself,  his  taste, 
his  likes,  his  imagination,  his  growth,  but  his  utter 
lack  of  all  these.  I  never  could  see  why  a  house 
should  be  surrounded  by  all  the  queer  things  and 
all  the  pretty  things  collectable;  for  this  is  to  create 
a  museum,  not  a  home.  Around  the  house  let  na- 
ture do  largely  as  she  will,  with  your  brains  and 
hands  to  cooperate.  Better  a  half-dozen  hearty 
native  trees,  in  free  development,  full  of  birds'  nests, 
than  a  lot  of  dwarf  trees  and  weeping  trees  and 
homesick  trees  from  China,  each  out  of  harmony 
with  the  others,  and  with  the  place  which  you 
call  home.  This  unity  should  include  the  whole 
property  —  house,  barns,  gardens,  lawns.  Your 
business  is  to  see  that  this  unity  is  sustained,  and 
no  part  of  the  home  allowed  to  run  down. 


[35] 


CHAPTER    THREE 
GROWING   THE   HOUSE 


JNIowHERE  in  the  world  should  industry  be  al- 
lowed to  express  itself  more  freely  than  when  put- 
ting together  material  for  a  human  soul  to  live  in. 
Anyone  going  by  such  a  home  should  easily  be  able 
to  say,  "That  is  Tom  Jones's  place  —  I'd  know  it 
by  the  look  of  it,  by  the  free  and  easy  approaches. 
It  looks  like  him."  Those  animals  which  grow 
their  own  houses  grow  them  to  fit.  You  know  a  fish 
by  the  shell  he  lives  in. 

The  country  house  should  stand  far  back  from 
the  street.  It  should  be,  if  not  near  the  center  of 
your  property,  at  least  so  near  the  center  that  no 
part  of  the  land  shall  be  diflBcult  to  reach.  What 
you  want  is  not  to  get  close  to  the  public  way,  one 
of  a  long  succession  of  houses,  but  to  have  elbow 
room  for  your  tastes,  and  to  get  out  of  the  eye  of  the 
critic  —  the  unmerciful  critic  who  refuses  to  let  you 
be  unlike  himself,  a  whit  better  or  worse.     If  you 


GROWING   THE   HOUSE 


have  five  or  ten  acres,  the  chances  are  that  some- 
where about  your  property  there  will  be  a  natural 
center.  You  will  see  this  when  you  come  to  study 
the  slopes,  the  swales,  and  the  outlooks.  From  this 
heart-spot  your  life  and  work  can  pulsate  most  easily 
to  all  the  parts.  It  is  wonderful  how  the  country  is 
gotten  up  for  this  sort  of  individualism.  You  will 
surely  find  a  knoll  or  a  ridge  upon  which  you  can 
stand  with  a  friend,  and  looking  over  the  valleys  and 
hills,  say,  "  Is  not  this  beautiful  ?  "  It  is  on  that 
spot  you  should  begin  to  take  root ;  and  your  house 
should  grow  over  you  and  around  you  —  not  to 
shut  out  those  visions,  but  to  take  them  in. 

The  next  and  most  positive  consideration  is  that 
a  country  house  must  not  be  a  city  house  transferred 
to  rural  surroundings,  and  in  this  way  misplaced. 
A  city  house  is  what  it  is  from  necessity,  and  as  a 
rule  city  houses  must  be  very  much  alike.  Each 
one  and  all  together  express  neighborhood  —  pieces 
of  something  else.  But  a  house  in  the  country 
should  mean  a  home ;  a  place  to  live  in  and  to  grow 
in  and  to  be  yourself  in.  Yet  all  over  the  land  we 
find  stiff  and  formal  imitations  of  those  habitations 
which  city  restrictions  compel  to  be  built.  On  one 
side  of  these  buildings  we  find  no  windows,  or  very 

[37] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


few.  Without  any  reason  at  all  where  land  is 
abundant,  the  bricks  are  piled  up  three  stories  high; 
and  all  around  this  structure  we  find  only  one  small, 
bayed  window,  and  a  narrow  porch,  utterly  unin- 
habitable —  scarcely  large  enough  for  two  or  three 
chairs.  There  is  a  pinchedness  everywhere,  in 
striking  contrast  with  the  broad  and  generous  na- 
ture that  surrounds  it.  Such  a  house,  planted  at  a 
conventional  distance  from  the  street,  has  a  conven- 
tional grass  plot  in  front,  where  is  to  be  heard  the 
eternal  racket  of  a  lawn  mower,  shoved  back  and 
forth  across  the  grass.  This  is  not  a  country  home 
at  all,  nor  has  it  any  fitness  outside  of  city  limits. 
If  you  go  into  the  country,  study  first  country  needs, 
country  fitnesses,  country  possibilities,  and  then  ad- 
just yourself  to  the  same. 

In  the  next  place,  it  is  to  be  of  absolute  importance 
that  you  plant  your  country  house  where  you  can 
secure  good  drainage.  The  sewerage  must  easily 
flow  away  from  the  house.  Anything  like  stagna- 
tion should  be  avoided.  If  you  have  a  swale  or 
slope  behind  the  house  I  advise  you  to  carry  all 
kitchen  and  closet  sewerage  to  an  open  cesspool, 
not  less  than  four  hundred  feet  from  the  house. 
This  cesspool  can  be  easily  made  also  a  compost 

[38] 


three]  growing   the   HOUSE 


heap,  wherein  you  accumulate  wastage  from  the 
fields  and  barns  —  using  care  not  to  block  the  sewer 
vent.  In  this  way  the  house  waste  will  become  in- 
corporated in  the  compost  and  make  it  doubly  val- 
uable. I  have  studied  all  the  systems ;  and  some  of 
them  are  excellent,  if  conditions  are  right.  The 
Waring  system  distributes  sewerage  admirably, 
until  the  pipes  become  clogged.  After  that  there 
is  serious  trouble,  if  the  land  lies  level.  The  soil 
will  sometimes  get  over-saturated,  and  poisonous 
effluvia  arise  out  of  our  meadows.  At  all  events 
keep  in  mind,  while  establishing  your  house,  this 
question  of  easy  and  secure  drainage.  You  cannot 
rely  on  servants  to  carry  house  slops  to  a  safe  de- 
posit. If  the  vegetable  or  flower  garden  be  very 
near  the  door,  the  water  of  washing  days  can  be 
profitably  used  about  the  plants  and  bushes.  A 
bed  of  dahlias  is  a  good  thing  near  a  kitchen  door 
—  or  a  bed  of  roses  or  of  phloxes.  These  are  all 
good  drinkers  and  good  feeders.  If  you  have  a 
row  of  pear  trees  at  hand  you  can  direct  your  help 
to  dispose  of  considerable  liquid  waste  about  their 
roots.  Salt  water  and  brine  may  go  to  an  asparagus 
bed  or  to  a  quince  orchard,  and  a  lesser  amount  of 
it  can  safely  be  distributed  about  pear  and  apple 

[39] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


trees.  But  a  country  house  without  any  complete 
system  of  drainage  is  lacking  in  the  prime  essential 
—  both  for  decency  and  for  health.  The  pipes  to 
the  cesspool  should  not  be  less  than  five  or  six 
inches  in  diameter,  because  small  pipes  will  surely 
be  clogged  with  accumulation  of  greasy  material. 
On  the  other  hand,  very  large  pipes  are  not  easily 
flushed,  and  do  not  carry  waste  away  with  sufiBcienl 
rapidity. 

The  cesspool  I  have  described  is,  however,  ad- 
visable only  for  homes  that  cover  several  acres. 
For  small  homesteads  the  safest  and  neatest  plan  is 
the  earth  closet.  I  append  a  description  of  a  good 
closet  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Julius  Nelson,  of  the  New 
Jersey  Agricultural  Experiment  Station.  "  Shallow 
pits  should  be  provided,  with  bottom  and  sides  of 
brick  laid  in  cement.  We  have  a  pit  as  small  as 
four  by  four  feet  and  three  feet  deep,  adequate  for 
the  needs  of  a  fair-sized  family.  The  closet  is  to  be 
built  in  front  of  this  pit,  with  its  rear  projection  one 
and  one-half  feet  over  the  front  side  of  the  pit.  The 
remainder  of  the  pit  is  roofed  in  by  a  door  hinged  to 
the  back  of  the  closet.  Everything  is  to  be  so 
tightly  closed  as  to  be  fly-proof.  In  the  closet  should 
be  kept  a  barrel  of  earth,  or  ashes,  and  a  dipper. 

[40] 


THREE]  GROWING   THE   HOUSE 


The  dirt  to  be  used  should  be  exceedingly  dry,  and 
be  used  freely.  The  pit  should  be  emptied  once  in 
three  months."  Such  a  provision  as  this  is  open  to 
the  dangers  of  neglect;  and  it  is  also  open  to  the  dif- 
ficulty that  it  does  not  take  care  of  kitchen  waste 
and  slops.  One  of  the  government  bulletins  warns 
us  that,  "The  supposition  that  because  the  privy 
stands  on  slightly  lower  ground  than  the  top  of  the 
wall,  and  that  because  the  well  cannot  become  in- 
fected by  surface  drainage,  there  is  no  danger  to  be 
apprehended  from  the  privy,  is  all  too  common.  It 
is  practically  impossible  to  judge  by  the  surface  of 
the  ground,  of  the  various  strata  of  soil  below,  some 
of  them  capable  of  conveying  sewage  contamination 
several  hundred  feet.  The  very  fact  that  the  liquid 
in  a  privy  vault  seeps  away,  is  sufficient  evidence 
that  it  has  struck  some  porous  strata  and  is  going 
somewhere;  and  the  frequent  cases  of  typhoid  and 
diphtheria,  on  what  should  be  thoroughly  healthful 
farms,  are  ample  proof  that  it  finds  its  way  to  the 
source  of  drinking  water.  Another  fact  that  should 
not  be  lost  sight  of  is,  that  wells  are  usually  fed  by 
underground  courses,  and  one  of  these  may  pass 
directly  beneath  the  privy  vault." 

I  never  saw  a  dozen  decent  cellars  in  my  life. 

[41] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

Either  the  lower  or  ground  floor  is  a  real  story,  with 
furnished  rooms  for  housework,  or  it  is  a  semi-dark, 
uncomfortable,  and  often  ill-smelling  storage  place. 
We  have  got,  before  we  can  grow  a  house,  to  solve 
this  cellar  problem  —  the  real  footstool  of  human 
life.  The  right  sort  of  cellar  is  not  less  than  eight 
feet  to  the  ceiling,  with  grouted  floor,  thick  walls, 
half  above  ground,  and  thoroughly  lighted.  Such 
a  cellar  should  be  as  clean  and  as  sanitary  as  the 
upper  floors,  and  should  be  perfectly  safe  for  sleep- 
ing rooms,  if  needed  for  that  purpose.  Civilization 
covers  nothing  so  outrageously  barbarous  as  filthy 
cellars,  where,  among  decaying  vegetables  and 
storages  of  mildewing  barrels  and  bins,  diseases  are 
cradled,  to  break  out  above  stairs  when  conditions 
are  favorable.  Therefore,  first  of  all  look  out  for 
your  cellar.  Your  vegetables  and  your  fruit  will 
need  moist  storage,  and  should  on  no  account  be 
placed  in  the  basement  of  your  house,  but  rather  in 
a  storage-room  under  a  part  of  your  barn  or  carriage 
house.  While  digging  for  such  storage,  I  tapped  a 
spring  which  flowed  so  that  I  could,  by  piping  it, 
retain  it  under  the  floor.  This  is  left  open  at  the 
head  so  that  the  moisture  may  modify  the  atmos- 
phere.    Remember  that  a  fruit  cellar  should  not  be 

[42] 


three]  growing   the   HOUSE 


dry,  although  it  should  not  be  so  damp   as  to  be 
liable  to  mildew. 

The  ordinary  kitchen  is  a  disgraced  adjunct, 
where  is  caged  that  terrible  and  temporary  foreigner 
which  we  call  help.  It  ought  to  be  the  brightest, 
and,  in  some  sense,  the  homefulest  room  in  the 
whole  house.  Here  is  the  center  of  a  lot  of  thinking 
and  of  household  art.  Here  are  to  be  discovered 
and  invented  those  marvelous  concoctions  which 
create  good  temper  as  well  as  good  digestion.  A 
mean  kitchen  will  have  a  blighting  influence  on 
every  room  in  the  house.  I  put  in,  therefore,  a 
strong  plea  for  a  reformed  kitchen.  Permanent 
seats,  which  are  also  lockers,  ought  to  be  arranged 
for  it,  together  with  a  plenty  of  cupboards.  Every 
kitchen,  besides  an  adjacent  pantry,  should  have  as 
adjuncts  a  vestibule  and  a  storeroom.  Both  of 
these  should  be  neatly  finished  —  not  places  for 
litter  and  carelessness.  The  storeroom  should  be 
large  enough  to  contain  barrels  and  boxes  of  food, 
and  whatever  else  would  crowd  a  pantry.  I  take 
it  for  granted  that  every  rational  country  household 
buys  by  wholesale  what  it  cannot  grow,  and  so  saves 
in  the  cost,  while  securing  fresh  goods.  Where 
wholesale  purchasing  is   impossible  for   an    indi- 

[43] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 

vidual,  it  can  be  secured  by  the  clubbing  of  half  a 
dozen  families.  The  vestibule  of  the  kitchen  should 
be  an  orderly  receptacle  for  overshoes,  heavy  boots, 
blacking  brush,  brooms,  and  should  have  its  hooks 
for  wet  wraps  and  umbrellas.  Along  one  side  it 
should  have  a  locker  large  enough  to  serve  as  a  re- 
ceptacle for  slop  pails.  These  pails  are  essential 
to  receive  such  waste  as  will  be  carried  to  the  barn 
as  food  for  animals. 

When  woman  has  thoroughly  realized  the  fact 
that  a  home  kitchen  is  the  most  perfect  laboratory 
in  the  world  —  for  applied  chemistry —  she  will 
lose  her  distaste  for  this  field  of  domestic  economy. 
This  will  go  far  to  solve  the  problem  of  household 
help.  The  art  of  cooking  and  general  homekeeping 
will  be  looked  upon  as  a  scientific  achievement, 
and  by  no  means  a  drudgery  to  be  placed  on  the 
shoulders  of  a  lower  class. 

The  dining-room  is  a  social  room,  and  ought  to 
be  especially  cheering.  It  should  be  very  light,  al- 
though not  sunny.  It  should  be  furnished  with 
cut  flowers;  not  to  conceal  the  grossness  of  eating, 
but  because  in  the  orchard  and  garden  are  com- 
bined the  flowers  with  the  fruit.  Diet  in  a  country 
house  consists  very  largely  of  fruit  and  nuts  and 

[44] 


three]  growing   the   HOUSE 


cereals;  and  the  meat  should  be  garnished  with 
herbs.  A  dining-room  provided  with  apples,  pears, 
grapes,  berries,  and  with  home-grown  butternuts 
and  walnuts  is  the  ideal.  Then  right-cooking  be- 
comes a  science,  to  supplement  and  not  to  thwart 
nature.  A  true  pumpkin  pie  is  the  summing  up  of 
generations  of  brain  work;  or  was  it  an  inspiration 
of  some  Connecticut  maiden  ?  I  do  not  know,  only 
I  know  I  shall  never  be  ashamed  to  eat  a  very  large 
piece  of  pumpkin  pie  — "  such  as  my  mother  made." 
A  boiled  potato,  "dried  off,"  cracked  open,  floury 
and  sweet,  with  a  touch  of  golden  butter,  is  better 
than  the  nightingales'  tongues  of  Heliogabalus. 
With  all,  in  due  season,  there  should  be  a  pitcher  of 
home-brewed  cider,  made  ot  clean  Spitzenburgs 
and  Pound  Sweets,  half  and  half.  In  a  true 
dining-room  you  test,  comparatively  and  scientifi- 
cally, the  quality  of  your  new  beans  and  corn  and 
cauliflowers,  and  you  study  the  comparative  merits 
of  your  new  sweet  peas  and  nasturtiums.  It  is 
here  that  you  learn  what  to  grow,  and  what  to 
make  an  object  of  culture,  as  well  as  of  cultiva- 
tion. 

The  primitive  Saxon  house  was  an  All  (or  Hall). 
The  first  differentiation  of  this  original  Hall  was 

[45] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


sleeping  rooms.  You  will  certainly  allow  every 
member  of  your  family  a  separate  room  at  night. 
It  is  quite  enough  that  we  should  cooperate  in  work, 
in  play,  and  throughout  the  day  shall  fuse  our  lives. 
We  do  not  have  sufficient  opportunity  for  individual 
evolution  at  the  best.  Much  physical  illness  and 
more  moral  enfeeblement  depend  on  the  fact  that 
our  selfhood  is  impinged  upon  all  sides.  So,  what- 
ever else  you  do  or  do  not  do,  let  each  child  have  a 
room  of  his  own,  where  tastes  and  thought  and  life 
cannot  be  elbowed.  Let  him  think  alone,  and  plan 
alone,  and,  above  all,  sleep  alone.  The  social  side 
of  the  family  is  pretty  sure  of  getting  sufficient  op- 
portunity for  development.  If  the  child's  tastes  are 
peculiar,  even  outre,  let  them  mainly  alone.  Con- 
formity is  altogether  too  strong  a  drift  in  our  hered- 
ity. Then,  whatever  else  you  yield,  do  not  yield 
your  own  private  room. 

The  library  is  no  longer  the  most  important  home 
center.  Books  do  not  have  that  strictly  authorita- 
tive position  that  they  had  half  a  century  ago.  Yet 
in  the  country  one  still  needs  translators  and  inter- 
preters. The  growing  list  of  nature  books,  and  their 
increasing  popularity,  indicates  the  need  on  the  part 
of  the  vast  bulk  of  our  population,  of  help  for  very 

[  46  ] 


three]  growing   the   HOUSE 


common  seeing  and  hearing.  Most  people  see  in 
exceedingly  narrow  grooves.  Besides,  there  is  this 
peculiar  danger,  not  to  be  overlooked,  that  as  we 
come  closer  to  nature,  literary  culture  will  lose  too 
large  a  share  of  its  influence.  I  would  have  my 
country-bred  boys  and  girls  as  close  to  the  so-called 
" Humanities"  as  to  the  Sciences;  that  is,  as  close  to 
history  and  mathematics  as  to  botany  and  geology. 
They  should  learn  to  comprehend  pure  literature; 
and  to  have  a  taste  for  Whittier  and  Burns  and  Scott 
and  Phillips  Brooks,  and  all  that  is  stimulating  to 
pure  thought  and  art  and  poetry  —  climbing  up  to 
Shakespeare  and  the  Bible.  So  the  library  will  be 
a  delightful  cozy  room,  or  alcove,  where  good  books 
lord  it.  The  atmosphere  must  suggest  great  thoughts 
and  great  men.  You  must  feel  the  British  essayists, 
and  the  American  essayists  as  well.  Here  the  sup- 
ply must  be  according  to  your  purse  somewhat,  yet 
it  can  easily  include  a  hundred  character-making 
volumes  —  enough  to  establish  an  atmosphere. 
The  family  and  private  rooms  may  also  have  books 
of  appropriate  sort,  but  they  ought  not  to  prevent 
at  least  a  book  nook,  even  in  the  homeliest  cot- 
tage. Be  sure  that  you  do  not  rely  on  borrowed 
books.     They   smell   of  dirty  hands  and  tobacco 

[47] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


smoke,  and  then  you  have  no  feeling  of  friendship 
with  authors  who  are  only  visitors. 

I  have  advocated  individualism  strongly,  but  it 
should  not  be  allowed  to  go  too  far.  The  kitchen 
used  to  constitute  a  family  room,  but  to-day,  even 
in  country  houses,  the  kitchen  has  become  a  ser- 
vants' retreat;  and  in  too  many  cases  no  substitute 
has  been  established.  Every  home,  especially 
every  country  home,  should  have  a  family  room. 
This  should  be  the  heart  of  the  house,  where  all 
gather  together  for  conversation,  for  music,  and  for 
sport.  It  should  not  be  the  reception  room  —  de- 
voted to  strangers  —  nor  the  library,  nor  the  labor- 
atory; but  a  room  in  which  to  grow  a  family  spirit 
—  to  keep  up  the  oneness  of  the  housefolk.  With- 
out it  your  boys  and  your  girls  will  seek  social  life 
elsewhere,  and  the  social  life  of  your  own  house  will 
only  be  that  conventionalism  which  is  sure  to  be 
bred  where  outsiders  are  included. 

A  conservatory  is  not  really  as  necessary  in  the 
country  as  it  is  to  have  the  surroundings  of  the  house 
bright  and  cheerful  for  winter;  yet  nearly  every 
country  house  may  have,  if  it  will,  cozy  corners  for 
potted  plants.  I  shall  give  you  my  experience  in 
arranging  a  house  room  for  this  purpose,  and  then 

[48] 


three]  growing   the    HOUSE 


tell  you  to  what  I  have  settled  down.  I  began  with 
a  small  conservatory,  capable  of  holding  perhaps 
fifty  pots.  This  was  placed,  as  it  ought  to  have 
been,  facing  the  east  —  with  the  south  end  closed 
against  the  sun.  The  morning  light  is  best  for 
plants,  as  it  is  for  folks.  Grow^th  goes  on  mostly 
under  the  impulse  of  the  dawn.  Babies  and  plants 
should  be  seen  by  the  rising  sun  —  old  folks  also, 
if  they  would  have  sweet  dispositions  and  long  lives. 
But  after  a  time  I  found  it  difficult  to  keep  the 
floor  from  having  wetted  spots,  and  there  were  rot- 
ting boards.  The  atmosphere  was  not  the  best,  and 
not  good  altogether  to  let  loose  into  the  house. 
There  is  nothing  worse  than  sick  plants  to  poison 
the  atmosphere;  and  it  was  not  always  easy  to  keep 
every  plant  in  robust  health.  Then  I  tried  a  simple 
table  and  a  sunny  window  —  using  the  conservatory 
for  another  purpose.  I  turned  a  couple  of  marble 
tops  bottom  upward,  and  they  made  capital  plant 
stands.  On  one  of  these,  in  a  large,  sunny  window, 
I  now  grow  magnificent  pelargoniums,  five  feet  high, 
and  back  of  these  there  are  a  few  fuchsias.  On  an- 
other stand,  in  a  north  window,  grow  Rex  Begonias. 
Other  plants  are  kept  in  the  balcony  that  is  enclosed 
for  winter,  and  for  summer  is  open  for  a  hammock. 

[49] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


Here  are  geraniums,  with  a  Virginia  Coxe  rose,  a 
couple  of  Chinese  primroses,  and  nasturtiums 
galore.  I  think  this  plan  of  scattering  plants  about 
the  house  is  on  the  whole  preferable  for  most  homes 
in  the  country. 

But  my  special  delight  is  in  fruit-bearing  plants. 
It  is  just  as  easy  to  grow  a  dwarf  orange,  with  its 
delicious  perfume  and  its  golden  fruit,  the  guava, 
with  its  sweet  flowers  and  abundant  fruit,  as  it  is  to 
grow  flower-bearing  plants.  The  American  Won- 
der Lemon  is,  all  in  all,  the  most  perfect  pot  plant 
that  I  have  ever  grown.  It  is  loaded  constantly 
with  flowers,  twice  as  large  as  orange-blossoms,  and 
the  lemon  itself  is  larger  than  any  Florida  orange  — 
while  its  quality  is  perfect.  A  lemon  may  be  seen 
growing  on  a  tree  two  feet  high,  and  weighing  from 
one  to  two  pounds.  Dwarf  peaches  may  be  grown 
with  equal  ease  in  a  cool,  light  room,  if  the  trees  are 
given  an  annual  rest.  I  recommend  my  readers 
to  try  growing  in  pots  fruit-bearing  as  well  as  flower- 
bearing  plants. 

So  you  see  I  have  practically  given  up  the  idea  of 
a  conservatory;  and  as  for  a  greenhouse,  it  is  even 
less  advisable  for  the  majority  of  our  country  houses. 
I  have  seen  them  tried  repeatedly;  but  in  nearly  all 

[50] 


THREE]  GROWING   THE   HOUSE 


cases  they  are  either  soon  abandoned  or  they  are 
receptacles  of  a  lot  of  worthless  stuff,  not  well 
cared  for.  I  am  writing  for  those  who  have  not  a 
mint  to  draw  upon,  and  to  whom  rational  economy 
is  common  sense.  It  will  not  do,  when  moving  into 
the  country,  to  undertake  such  an  annual  outlay 
as  will  destroy  the  charm  of  free  life  and  the  enjoy- 
ment of  nature.  I  prefer  to  have  bright  spots  about 
the  different  rooms  of  my  home,  and  I  like  to  see  the 
sun  laugh  when  it  looks  into  a  bedroom  window 
and  finds  a  begonia  or  a  primrose.  It  at  once 
shines  its  best,  and  works  at  the  carbon  gases  until 
they  are  woven  into  leaves  and  flowers. 

A  home  shop  is  essential  to  every  complete  coun- 
try home.  This  is  a  matter  of  economy,  and,  in 
repairs  alone,  will  be  worth  annually  more  than  its 
cost,  while  in  time  saved  it  will  prove  to  be  even 
more  valuable.  When  village  repair  shops  are  from 
one  to  five  miles  distant,  it  is  no  mean  item  of  loss  to 
be  compelled  to  leave  the  plow  or  the  hay  field  or  the 
harvest,  to  secure  an  hour's  work  at  forge  or  lathe. 
My  own  shop  is  always  called  upon  at  least  once  a 
week.  It  is  furnished  with  engine,  lathe,  forge,  and 
all  tools  necessary  for  carpentry  as  well  as  for  turn- 
ing.    A  screw  can  be  turned  or  a  bolt  made  at  short 

[51] 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


notice.  It  is  not  diflScult  for  my  boys  to  make  a  new 
chisel  or  some  similar  tool,  to  help  us  through  a 
hurried  job.  Here  is  our  saw  for  cutting  wood,  our 
bone-grinder,  and  a  cider  press  for  utilizing  waste 
fruit.  We  sometimes  grind  one  hundred  barrels  of 
apples  in  a  year  into  cider  and  vinegar.  All  this,  or 
nearly  all  this,  is  material  that  is  allowed  to  go  to 
waste  on  large  farms.  If  a  chair  or  table  be  broken, 
it  goes  to  the  shop ;  and  so  it  is  with  all  those  forlorn 
happenings  that  generally  stock  a  storeroom  with 
useless  rubbish — that  finally  finds  its  way  into  bon- 
fires. But  construction  is  even  more  important 
than  repairing.  A  shop  leads  a  boy  to  try  his  skill. 
He  thinks,  he  invents  —  he  and  the  tools  think  to- 
together.  The  chiefest  of  drawbacks  with  recent 
farm  life  has,  next  to  isolation,  been  its  sharp  alien- 
ation from  all  industries  but  land  tillage.  The  fac- 
tories stole  from  us,  one  by  one,  all  the  industrial 
arts,  out  of  doors  and  indoors.  The  mothers  gave 
up  their  spinning,  their  weaving  and  their  knitting; 
and  the  fathers  gave  up  their  building,  their  shoe- 
making,  and  their  cheese  and  butter  making.  The 
farm  was  left  to  the  duller  work  of  every-day  drudg- 
ery. Science  had  not  come  in  to  teach  the  charm  of 
comparative  culture,  and  agricultural  tools  had  not 

[52] 


three]  growing   the   HOUSE 


lifted  drudgery  into  enterprise.  The  shop  is  a 
needed  alliance  of  mechanics  with  agriculture.  It 
not  only  makes  tools,  but  better- rounded  characters ; 
and  it  widens  the  power  of  our  young  folks. 

We  are  living  in  an  age  of  science.  This  requires 
that  we  shall  readjust  our  land  culture  to  precise 
methods.  The  tendency  is  to  smaller  homesteads, 
better  tilled.  We  are  learning  to  intensify  and  per- 
fect, and  so  to  get  our  harvests  gradually  up  toward 
a  maximum.  In  order  to  accomplish  this,  our  chil- 
dren must  be  educated  to  scientific  methods  of  seeing 
and  hearing,  as  well  as  doing.  Before  grammar  and 
arithmetic  must  come  the  art  of  using  the  senses. 
Entomology  has  become  a  part  of  good  farming.  We 
must  know  our  friends  among  the  insects  from  the 
foes.  All  this  brings  us  to  another  differentiation 
in  house-growing.  We  must  have  a  laboratory  — 
a  room  where  chemistry,  geology,  botany,  entomol- 
ogy, ornithology  supplement  land-culture  and  tree- 
culture.  It  should  be  a  large  and  well-lighted 
room.  Mine  is  over  the  shop.  One  corner  is  fur- 
nished for  chemical  experiments,  another  for  botany, 
and  another  for  entomology;  but  altogether,  these 
combined  illustrate  their  application  to  horticul- 
ture.    All  about  us  are  cross-bred  corns,  beans,  and 

[53] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


other  seeds  or  esculents  that  have  been  scientifically 
produced  by  ourselves.  No  matter  how  simple  and 
elementary  the  work  that  you  can  accomplish  here, 
do  not  fail  of  having  a  laboratory.  Where  house 
room  is  not  abundant,  it  may  be  an  adjunct  to  the 
barn.  This  and  the  shop  will  become  the  center  of 
much  family  thought,  and  more  attractive  for  your 
young  people  than  any  social  device  that  would 
draw  them  away  from  home. 

Your  chimney  should  be  built  out  of  doors,  with 
just  as  little  as  possible  contact  with  woodwork,  and 
the  flue  should  be  so  small  that  the  heat  of  the  fire 
will  easily  send  the  draught  upward.  Nearly  all 
smoking  chimneys  are  caused  by  the  fact  that  the 
fire  is  not  strong  enough  to  send  up  a  column  of  hot 
air  to  overcome  the  dropping  column.  In  other 
words,  the  chimney  draws  backward.  To  lift  the 
chimney  higher  does  no  good,  but  makes  the  trouble 
worse.  Old-fashioned  fires,  made  of  piled  logs  in 
huge  fireplaces,  would  heat  big  chimneys  and  drive 
upward  a  column  of  smoke  and  heated  air;  but  our 
furnaces  and  grates  are  not  able  to  do  this  if  the  flue 
be  large.  An  open  fireplace  is  desirable  in  the  fam- 
ily room  if  possible.  Never  will  this  world  happen 
upon  anything  more  homeful  than  the  old-fashioned 

[54] 


three]  growing   the   HOUSE 


open  fire  of  logs,  with  brick  hearths  to  catch  the 
sparks,  and  all  the  family  around  it,  telling  stories 
and  cracking  nuts,  or  paring  apples,  while  the 
mother  turned  the  great  wheel  or  knitted  at  a  home 
supply  of  stockings.  But  whether  we  have  an  open 
grate  or  not,  we  should  at  least  make  sure  that 
every  chimney  be  based  upon  the  ground. 

If  I  were  to  build  another  house  I  would  not  have 
an  ounce  of  plaster  in  it,  nor  a  square  of  paper  pasted 
over  mortar.  This  is  always  subject  to  fading  or  to 
breakage.  It  opens  the  way  to  the  display  of  bad 
taste,  and  in  a  few  years  it  has  become  the  harbor 
of  disease  germs.  Every  room  should  be  wains- 
cotted  in  some  neat  wood  that  can  be  oiled  or  var- 
nished as  you  will.  It  need  not  be  costly  or  it  may 
be  as  ornamental  as  your  means  allow.  A  house 
wainscotted  with  Georgia  pine  has  an  initial  cost 
very  little  exceeding  that  of  one  properly  plastered 
and  papered;  and  it  will  need  nothing  more  than 
oiling  for  fifty  years.  In  case  of  infectious  disease, 
thorough  washing  of  the  walls  and  thorough  aerating 
of  the  rooms  make  them  safe  for  occupancy. 

A  white  house  in  the  country,  if  deeply  imbedded 
in  trees,  is  all  right,  but  a  white  house  standing  near 
the  street  is  in  all  ways  disagreeable.     The  neutral 

[56] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


tints,  SO  popular  fifty  years  ago,  have  the  advantage 
of  making  the  house  inconspicuous  —  as  it  should 
be.  But  what  we  want  is  to  have  all  our  associations 
suggestive  of  our  needs  and  emotions  —  that  is,  the 
house  should  suggest  our  living  ideas  and  cares. 
Green  and  red  are  two  colors  that  nature  seldom 
tires  of  using;  and  it  is  much  the  same  with  warm 
yellow.  Blue  is  used  much  more  cautiously  and 
delicately.  A  dark-red  house,  trimmed  with  dark 
green,  very  generally  fits  into  the  surroundings 
which  nature  offers  in  the  country. 

Outbuildings  should  never  be  allowed  to  mar 
the  symmetry  and  the  unity  of  the  home  buildings. 
They  should  not  break  up  or  break  into  the  idea 
that  the  place  is  intended  to  express.  Greenhouses 
are  a  part  of  the  idea  of  a  florist's  home,  but  they 
are  not  a  natural  part  of  an  ordinary  home.  An 
observatory  is  generally  a  ludicrous  pretence,  unless 
you  have  a  telescope,  and  study  astronomy.  Of  all 
absurdities  nothing  can  be  more  disagreeable  than 
water-closets  and  cesspools  in  full  view  near  a  house 
— even  though  they  be  behind  it.  In  fact,  we  should 
not  so  build  and  arrange  our  lawns  that  there  shall 
be  any  part  of  the  grounds  which  can  be  said  to  be 
back  of  the  house.     True  homes  front  all  ways,  not 

[56] 


THREE]  GROWING   THE   HOUSE 


simply  toward  a  public  road  where  Tom,  Dick,  and 
Harry  drive  by.  Generally  the  front  away  from 
the  street  should  be  the  more  healthful,  and  freest 
from  possible  annoyance  to  the  eye  of  him  who  is 
living  the  place  into  shape. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  economy  in  house  building 
is  almost  always  shown  at  the  foundation.  Cellar 
walls  should  be  solid,  thick,  and  eight  feet  high  — 
no  wasteful  economy  hereabout.  There  is  no  reason 
why  one  should  creep  about  a  dark  underground 
dungeon  to  find  potatoes  for  dinner.  Where  stone 
is  plentiful,  it  is  the  only  and  fit  material  for  foun- 
dation of  either  house  or  barn.  Where  stone  is 
scarce,  grout  may  be  convenient  —  made  of  broken 
stone,  sharp  sand,  and  cement,  laid  slowly  and 
thoroughly  between  plank  supports,  that  are  pulled 
up  as  the  wall  rises. 

Do  not  construct  any  half  story.  They  are  hot 
in  summer,  and  generally  uncomfortable  at  all 
times  —  without  being  economical.  There  is  no 
reason  why  walls  should  so  slope  that  we  cannot 
stand  erect  anywhere  about  a  room.  You  may 
spend  more  in  five  years  trying  to  heat  a  cheapened 
house,  with  thin  walls  and  ugly  cellar  and  cheap 
materials,  than  a  really  well-built  house  would  have 

[57] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

cost.  Meanwhile  you  will  never  be  comfortable  or 
happy,  or  safe  from  pneumonia.  But,  however  well 
you  may  have  constructed  your  house,  double  win- 
dows for  winter  will  often  pay  for  themselves  in 
conserved  heat. 

This  evolution  of  the  house  you  will  have  seen 
has  been  simply  an  evolution  of  a  human  being.  It 
has  been  yourself,  learning  to  express  yourself  in 
different  adjustments.  As  anyone  gets  to  be  better 
educated  in  his  separate  faculties,  each  of  those 
faculties  expresses  itself  in  an  apartment.  A  right 
sort  of  a  house  finds  one  out  and  reveals  one  to  one's 
self.  The  whole  house,  altogether,  is  the  whole 
human  being  working  out  into  expression  and  sep- 
arate functioning.  Now  all  around  us  we  set  the 
birds  to  singing  and  the  trees  to  growing,  while  at  the 
heart  of  all  this  life  the  soul  lives.  Your  house  should 
be  where  you  would  seek  yourself  on  a  pleasant  day, 
among  the  trees;  and  where  of  a  stormy  day  you 
would  like  to  find  a  retreat.  Do  as  the  crusta- 
ceans do :  have  a  shell  that  you  can  use  when  you 
need  it.  You  are  yourself  still  more  important 
than  the  wood  or  the  brick  that  you  have  used. 
It  is  being  made  to  express  your  feelings.  You 
have  not  set  it  in   a  row  along  the  roadside  just 

[58] 


THREE]  GROWING   THE   HOUSE 


to  have  it,  that  is,  yourself,  looked  at,  and  so 
that  you  can  look  yourself  at  the  go-byes.  It 
stands  on  a  knoll  well  away  from  others,  thoroughly 
individualized;  and  from  its  porches  and  balco- 
nies and  windows  it  enters  into  soul-possession 
of  the  valley,  the  opposite  hills,  and  even  says  to 
the  sun  and  the  moon  and  the  sweet  air,  "You  are 
mine." 

"One   harvest  from  your  field 

Homeward   brought   your   oxen   strong,' 
Another   crop   your   acres  yield. 
Which  I  gather  in  a  song." 

Emerson 


[59] 


CHAPTER    FOUR 
WATER   SUPPLY-WELLS,    CISTERNS,    ETC. 


I  oo  many  country  homes  undertake  to  get  on 
without  adequate  water  supply.  Very  few  have 
perfect  cisterns  and  entirely  safe  wells.  This  dep- 
rivation is  seldom  necessary,  and  takes  away  from 
country  life  one  of  its  chiefest  privileges.  To  be 
out  of  washing  water  half  the  time,  or  for  a  single 
month,  is  a  serious  burden  to  a  housewife;  and  for 
wells  to  go  dry  in  hot  weather  involves  not  only  suf- 
fering, but  danger  to  health  and  life.  The  water 
from  a  shallow  well  of  fifteen  to  twenty-five  feet  in 
depth  is  never  quite  safe;  and  after  a  drought  such 
a  well  is  filled  with  surface  water,  that  easily  flows 
in  through  the  shrunken  and  cracked  soil  —  after 
which  the  water  becomes  a  positive  menace.  Most 
of  our  brooks  are  no  longer  quite  free  from  some 
sort  of  pollution,  and  should  not  be  used  for  drink- 
ing, unless  directly  at  the  fountain  head.  Even 
there  spring  water,  before  it  is  adopted  for  a  family 


WATER   SUPPLY 


supply,  should  be  analyzed,  and  all  the  surround- 
ings should  be  thoroughly  examined.  If  your 
spring  is  analyzed  as  wholesome,  and  you  are  sure 
that  it  cannot  be  contaminated  from  some  neigh- 
bor's drainage,  build  over  it  a  spring  house,  of  stone, 
if  possible,  and  in  this  have  a  stone  box  for  keeping 
meats  cool,  and  a  tank  for  milk  cans. 

Wells  are  contaminated  not  only  by  surface  water, 
by  slops,  and  by  barnyard  drainage,  but  by  sub- 
terranean streams  that  encounter  cesspools  or  other 
contaminating  substances.  In  this  way  typhoid 
fever  bacteria,  as  well  as  those  which  cause  diarrhea, 
dysentery,  and  probably  other  diseases  are  carried 
into  the  human  system.  It  is  thought  that  such 
epidemics  as  cholera  are  frequently  caused  by  pol- 
luted wells.  A  well  must  therefore  not  only  be 
placed  on  high  ground,  but  we  must  make  sure  that 
the  under-soil  strata  do  not  seep  toward  it.  The 
impervious  strata  may  slope  so  as  to  run  water  under 
the  soil  for  quite  a  distance  and  turn  it  into  a  well. 
The  ground  immediately  around  the  well  should 
slope  away  from  it,  and  the  waste  water  from  the 
well  itself  should  not  be  allowed  to  soak  down  into 
the  ground,  carrying  with  it  surface  impurities  and 
stagnation.     But  you  cannot  even  then  be  sure  of 

[61] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


safe  water  until  you  have  inclosed  the  shaft  with  a 
water-tight  wall,  reaching  down  to  solid  rock.  Then 
lift  it  above  the  soil  for  at  least  one  foot,  and  you 
have  probably  made  your  well  as  safe  as  it  can  be 
made  by  this  sort  of  precaution.  After  all  is  done, 
have  your  water  frequently  analyzed.  Too  much 
depends  upon  our  drinking  water,  both  in  the  coun- 
try and  in  the  city,  to  allow  of  economy  standing  in 
the  way  of  the  utmost  precaution. 

As  a  rule,  the  only  positively  sure  and  safe  water 
for  drinking  is  that  obtained  from  deep  rock.  By 
drilling  this  will  be,  in  the  long  run,  the  least  ex- 
pensive supply  —  not  only  as  avoiding  doctors'  bills, 
but  as  being  absolutely  adequate  at  all  seasons.  I 
have  three  dug  wells,  but  as  they  changed  flavor  as 
well  as  chemical  constituents  at  different  seasons, 
and  were  also  liable  to  give  out  during  protracted 
drought,  I  added  a  drilled  or  artesian  well.  This 
well,  although  on  high  ground,  struck  excellent 
water  at  the  depth  of  seventy -two  feet  —  thirty  feet 
being  in  solid  rock.  The  water  now  stands  at  about 
one  foot  above  the  ground  surface  in  the  pipe,  and  if 
not  confined,  would  constitute  a  flowing  well.  This 
is  a  rare  chance;  but  it  is  not  diflScult  to  obtain  a  well 
where  the  water  shall  stand  at  only  a  few  feet  below 

[62] 


four]  water  supply 


the  surface.  The  cost  of  my  own  well  was  one  hun- 
dred and  twelve  dollars,  to  which  must  be  added 
ten  dollars  for  pump  and  plumbing  work.  In  some 
localities  the  drill  need  not  go  down  more  than  forty 
or  fifty  feet,  to  secure  a  permanent  flow  of  absolutely 
safe  water;  yet,  within  a  mile  of  me  there  are  points 
where  a  good  supply  has  not  been  reached  at  even 
two  hundred  feet.  This  depth  would  make  the  cost 
of  a  well  not  less  than  between  three  and  four  hun- 
dred dollars ;  yet  even  at  that  figure  it  is  a  valuable 
investment  —  far  better  than  if  the  same  amount 
were  put  into  costly  furniture,  or  even  an  expensive 
house. 

As  a  rule,  hilly  land  is  not  dry  land,  but  frequently 
is  just  the  contrary.  The  locality  should  be  studied 
with  care,  and  where  you  find  that  you  easily  strike 
springs  near  the  surface,  you  can  calculate  that  veins 
in  the  rocks  can  be  found  at  a  reasonable  depth.  In 
all  cases  you  should  watch  the  man  who  operates 
the  drill ;  for,  at  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  a  foot,  he 
is  tempted  to  drill  by  an  excellent  flow  of  water, 
without  reporting  it  to  you  —  indeed,  I  think  this  is 
not  uncommon  in  such  work;  and  houses  are  fre- 
quently supplied  with  inferior  water  from  a  greater 
depth,  while  excellent  water  has  been  piped  against. 

[63] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


Many  veins  of  saturated  shale  will  be  touched  that 
supply  mineralized  water,  and  you  may  decide  as  to 
whether  these  will  be  acceptable  for  your  house 
supply.  One  of  my  wells  gives  me  a  strong  flavor 
of  sulphur  —  too  strong  at  some  seasons  for  table 
use.  Another  well  gives  me  a  strong  taste  of 
iron,  with  a  slight  taste  of  sulphur. 

Having  a  drilled  well,  or  any  other  thoroughly 
safe  supply  of  water,  it  should  be  invariably  carried 
directly  into  the  house.  If  it  be  from  a  flowing 
well,  or  from  a  pure  spring,  pumping  will  not  always 
be  necessary;  but  in  most  cases  a  force  pump  must 
be  attached  to  your  kitchen  sink,  or  to  a  basin  of 
marble  or  iron,  in  some  convenient  corner  of  the 
room.  Drainage  from  the  basin  should  be  con- 
nected with  the  general  waste  pipe,  so  as  to  assist 
in  carrying  off  the  refuse  or  the  greasy  water  of  the 
sink.  The  pipe  that  conveys  the  water  through  the 
soil  and  into  the  house  should  be  of  iron,  and  the 
connection  should  be  carefully  looked  after.  Too 
much  precaution  cannot  be  taken  against  lead  pipes, 
or  against  lead  at  the  joints.  Removing  lead  pipes 
from  my  own  well  —  purely  from  a  sanitary  point 
of  view  —  some  years  ago,  I  employed  a  plumber 
who  cemented  the  joints  of  the  iron  with  a  soft  red 

[64] 


Foxm]  WATER   SUPPLY 


lead  paste.  As  a  consequence  my  whole  family  was 
poisoned,  one  son  almost  fatally.  Lead  poisoning  is 
one  of  those  fearful  dangers,  involving  terrible  suffer- 
ing, that  cannot  be  too  carefully  guarded  against  — 
not  only  in  well  pipes  but  in  faucets  and  receptacles. 
An  ignorant  or  careless  plumber  may  undermine 
the  health  of  a  household,  even  while  apparent- 
ly providing  against  danger.  Let  the  water  which 
will  be  used  for  drinking  purposes  be  brought 
through  iron  pipes,  carefully  cemented  with 
graphite  mixtures.  Water  obtained  from  a  deep 
well  is  always  as  cold  as  it  is  safe  to  use,  and 
you  may  cut  off  your  supply  of  ice.  Ice-water 
is  always  more  or  less  dangerous,  while  cold  well- 
water  is  almost  never  injurious.  It  is  of  an  even 
temperature,  and  sufficiently  cold  for  rational 
purposes. 

One  of  our  ablest  sanitary  writers  tells  us  that 
*' Well-water,  as  it  is  found  in  the  ordinary  com- 
munity, is  rarely  safe  —  where  it  is  safe  is  the  ex- 
ception. One  well  of  absolutely  untainted  water 
may  be  found  to  ninety-nine  that  are  more  or  less 
impure.'*  The  same  writer,  speaking  of  reservoirs, 
urges  that,  while  possibly  they  may  be  suitable  for 
human  use,  the  probability  is  that  they  contain 

[65] 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


germs  of  disease.  Nor  can  it  be  overlooked  that 
freezing  these  reservoirs  or  ponds  does  not  destroy 
injurious  bacteria.  The  use  of  the  Pasteur  filter  is 
recommended  in  all  houses  —  even  where  the  water 
supply  is  supposed  to  be  absolutely  perfect.  The 
alum  treatment  is  also  eflScacious,  but  not  the  most 
reliable. 

Water  supply  for  your  barn  and  stables  should 
be  as  pure  as  that  for  the  house.  While  animals 
may  not  be,  apparently,  sickened  by  the  use  of  tain- 
ted water,  they  often  are  diseased;  and  a  cow's  milk 
is  certainly  vitiated  by  what  she  drinks,  as  well  as 
flavored  by  what  she  eats.  You  can  carry  water 
from  a  drilled  or  artesian  well  into  your  barns  and 
stables,  and  obtain  a  constant  supply  of  pure,  cool 
water.  It  should  be  carried  directly  into  the  stalls, 
through  pipes  that  supply  separate  drinking  basins. 
Wastage  from  these  troughs  can  be  easily  provided 
for,  down  the  grouting  to  the  drainage  pipes.  In 
this  way  animals  can  drink  when  they  choose  —  not 
when  they  must.  If  possible,  have  your  well  on 
ground  above  your  buildings,  and  carry  the  water 
in  pipes  that  tap  the  main  well  tube,  or  can  be  filled 
by  pumping.  Flushing-tanks  in  each  stall  regu- 
late the  supply.     By  this  system  the  saving  of  work 

[66] 


four]  water   supply 


is  a  large  item,  while  the  cleanliness  of  the  stable  is 
better  secured. 

The  use  of  a  windmill  on  a  farm  is  just  begin- 
ning to  be  understood  in  our  Eastern  States;  in 
the  Western  States  they  are  far  more  common. 
Where  a  small  supply  of  water  is  needed 
and  a  very  small  tank  is  used,  the  results 
may  not  be  satisfactory;  but  for  a  large  stable, 
with  a  large  tank  and  large  mill,  this  is  the  ideal 
system.  A  small  gasoline  engine  will  do  your 
pumping  far  more  steadily  and  certainly,  while 
it  will  also  do  other  work.  A  small  steam  plant,  al- 
though more  expensive,  is  in  the  long  run  most 
economical.  When  pumping  is  done  by  an  en- 
gine the  distributing  tank  may  be  quite  small,  as  it 
can  be  filled  every  day.  The  working  by  wind  is 
more  fitful,  and  the  tank  must  sometimes  hold 
enough  to  last  for  several  days. 

Of  cistern  water  a  country  house  can  hardly  have 
too  large  a  supply.  There  should  be  enough  for  very 
free  use  in  the  kitchen,  for  the  washing  and  the  scrub- 
bing, and  enough  for  bathing.  A  modern  family 
holds  a  bathroom  among  its  chief  requirements,  and 
very  justly  so.  Whatever  else  you  fail  to  do,  at  least 
compel  your  children  to  take  a  daily  bath  in  clean, 

[67] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


fresh  cistern  water.  If  this  water  be  caught  on  the 
roof,  the  gutters  and  the  pipes  as  well  as  the  roofs 
should  be  kept  clean.  A  very  good  plan  is  to 
bury  your  cistern  under  ground  —  anywhere  about 
your  house,  even  under  the  driveway.  I  have  a 
wooden  cistern  which  has  been  in  use  twelve  years. 
Opening  it  two  years  ago,  I  found  almost  no  decay, 
and  very  little  deposit;  the  water  was  absolutely 
clean.  An  open  cistern  of  stone,  in  my  cellar,  gives 
me  far  more  trouble.  In  fact,  I  do  not  recommend 
a  cistern  inside  the  house  under  any  conditions. 
But  wherever  your  cistern  is  placed,  the  pipes 
should  lead  directly  into  the  kitchen.  Either  di- 
rectly from  the  cistern  or  from  a  reservoir,  water 
should  also  be  carried  to  the  bathroom  and  to  the 
sleeping  rooms. 

Irrigation  is  too  generally  considered  as  a  provi- 
sion belonging  only  to  extensive  farming,  and  home- 
making  on  arid  lands.  It  will  hereafter  be  a  method 
of  supplying  water  for  the  gardens  and  meadows 
and  field  crops  of  intensive  farming.  We  are  grow- 
ing less  and  less  patient  with  the  enormous  loss  in  our 
strawberry  beds  and  our  truck  gardens,  caused  by 
dry  spells,  just  in  the  nick  of  time.  The  loss  runs  up 
in  the  aggregate  to  hundreds  of  millions  every  year. 

[68] 


four]  water   supply 


The  remedy  by  tree  and  forest  planting,  and  by 
reservoir  control  of  spring  floods,  is  a  slow  one  to 
compass;  and  it  will  remain  incomplete,  without  a 
system  of  artificial  distribution  of  the  water.  At 
any  rate,  the  Eastern  farmer  is  facing  the  problem  of 
how  best  to  spread  water  over  his  very  uneven  fields; 
mainly  obtained  from  wells,  by  windmills,  and  held 
in  reservoirs.  Occasionally  brooks  can  be  utilized 
without  windmills,  the  water  being  dammed  to  a 
height  sufficient  to  compass  its  distribution  over 
lower  fields.  Small  lakes,  more  common  in  Michi- 
gan and  other  Western  States,  can  be  brought  into 
service.  The  windmill  and  tank  must,  in  many 
cases,  be  on  the  bank  of  the  lake.  Unfortunately, 
we  can  seldom  work  out  the  problem  by  a  general 
system,  as  is  done  in  arid  sections  of  the  West.  It 
must  be  thought  out  and  wrought  out  in  each  case 
according  to  conditions. 

Our  Eastern  homesteads  have  to  meet  the  prob- 
lem of  irrigation  over  very  uneven  ground.  The 
difficulties  are  so  complex  in  the  New  England 
and  the  Middle  States,  as  to  induce  us  to  anticipate 
enough  annual  rain,  and  in  spite  of  repeated  disap- 
pointment, to  put  off  artificial  preparations.  Sta- 
tistics, however,  show  that  at  least  one  year  out  of 

[69] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


every  five,  and  generally  two  out  of  every  five,  crops 
are  reduced  by  drought  so  largely  as  to  bring  down 
the  farmers'  profits  to  a  meager  minimum,  if  not  to 
wipe  them  out  altogether. 

It  must,  however,  be  noted  that  the  land-owner 
can  supply  his  crops  with  a  very  large  amount  of 
moisture  without  resort  to  an  irrigation  system. 
The  full  effect  of  ditching  and  of  cultivating  — 
that  is,  stirring  the  soil,  has  never  yet  been  fully  ap- 
preciated by  gardeners  and  farmers.  Running  the 
cultivator  all  summer  keeps  the  soil  loose  and  re- 
tentive of  moisture.  In  very  many  cases  this  is  all 
that  you  will  require  in  the  humid  states.  We 
must,  however,  place  great  emphasis  on  the  fre- 
quency with  which  the  work  is  done.  In  berry 
gardens,  and  in  vegetable  gardens,  the  usual  cus- 
tom of  cultivating  once  or  twice  does  not  begin  to 
cover  the  requirements  of  even  an  ordinary  year. 
The  work  should  be  begun  early  in  the  spring,  and 
the  cultivator  kept  running  until  the  crops  are  about 
ready  for  harvesting.  Bear  in  mind  that  about 
fifty  per  cent  of  ordinary  soil  is  not  soil  at  all,  but 
space  filled  with  water  and  air.  What  we  want  is 
to  keep  the  soil  in  such  a  condition  that  it  can  be 
very  full  of  these  water  cells — ^constantly  refilled 

[70] 


WATER    SUPPLY 


from  the  atmosphere.  If  not  stirred,  a  crust  is  soon 
formed  against  the  air  and  moisture.  At  the  same 
time  that  the  loose  soil  absorbs  and  retains  the 
moisture,  it  takes  in,  with  the  water,  fertilizing  ele- 
ments from  the  surface  and  the  air. 

We  must  also  anticipate  another  point,  that 
drainage  is  quite  as  truly  a  method  of  keeping  soil 
moist  as  it  is  of  keeping  it  from  being  wet.  Con- 
tradictory as  this  may  seem,  it  is  nevertheless  true 
that  good  drainage  is  one  of  the  best  ways  of  pre- 
venting serious  damage  from  drought.  Undrained 
land  is  soggy  in  wet  weather,  but  is  not  retentive  of 
moisture  in  dry  weather.  It  bakes  hard,  and  vege- 
tation is  killed  outright.  There  is  hardly  a  piece  of 
land  in  existence  that  will  not  be  better  fitted  for 
resisting  a  dry  spell  by  being  well  underdrained. 
Tile  or  stone  drains  should  be  placed  from  twenty 
to  one  hundred  feet  apart  and  three  to  four  feet 
below  the  surface.  The  cost  will,  of  course,  vary 
quite  largely  —  from  fifteen  dollars  per  acre  to  forty- 
five  or  fifty.  The  profit,  however,  derived,  in  the 
way  of  increased  crops  and  decreased  damage  from 
drought,  will  compensate  the  land-owner  very  speed- 
ily. I  have  found,  still  further,  that  good  drainage 
enables  the  roots  of  many  plants  —  such  as  alfalfa 

[71] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

and  strawberries — to  strike  much  deeper  into  the 
soil,  and  feed  at  a  greater  depth.  In  this  way  many 
good  things  go  together  —  drainage,  irrigation,  and 
an  increase  in  our  abiHty  to  use  natural  resources. 
I  find  the  record  of  a  twenty-acre  field,  which  usu- 
ally yielded  twenty-five  bushels  of  corn  per  acre, 
but  after  thorough  drainage  yielded  sixty  bushels 
of  corn  per  acre  —  and  paid,  in  a  single  year,  the 
entire  cost  of  tile-drainage.  The  outlet  of  the  sys- 
tem of  drainage  should  be  into  a  larger  drain,  and 
thence,  by  a  free  outlet,  into  a  large  stream,  or  else- 
where, without  doing  damage. 

After  a  full  consideration  of  the  provisos  I  have 
named,  thorough  drainage  and  thorough  cultiva- 
tion, there  will  still  remain,  even  in  our  most  humid 
states,  a  great  loss  in  all  sorts  of  farm  crops,  and  es- 
pecially in  berry  gardens,  so  long  as  irrigation  is 
not  applied  in  a  regular  and  scientific  manner. 
We  must  make  our  country  homes  on  a  basis  of  an 
unfailing  supply  of  water  and  entire  deliverance 
from  the  chances  of  the  seasons. 

Intensive  farming  is  the  growing  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  crops  in  the  place  of  one  or  two  crops,  and 
the  application  of  scientific  principles  so  as  to  se- 
cure the  very  best  results.     This  involves  a  growing 

[72] 


four]  water   supply 


need  for  artificial  irrigation.  Strawberries  and 
raspberries  net  growers  from  three  to  four  hundred 
dollars  per  acre;  asparagus  and  vegetables  bring  a 
profit  of  from  one  to  three  hundred  dollars  per 
acre.  It  will  not  do  to  subject  these  crops  to  the 
chance  of  abundant  rainfalls.  Where  it  is  done, 
the  maximum  profit  of  four  hundred  drops  down  to 
one  hundred,  or  even  less.  It  is  clear  enough  that 
the  losses  of  a  single  year  would  more  than  pay  for 
an  irrigation  plant  on  a  farm  of  ten  acres.  In  the 
State  of  Connecticut  four  hundred  and  seventy- 
one  acres  were  reported  recently  as  irrigated,  at  a 
cost  for  ditches,  pipes,  pumps,  reservoirs,  and  all 
other  appliances,  of  a  little  over  sixteen  thousand 
dollars.  This  would  be  an  average  expense  of 
about  thirty-four  dollars  per  acre  —  to  be  paid  for 
by  the  onions  ruined  by  a  drought  on  one-quarter 
of  an  acre. 

In  arid  lands,  which  are,  as  a  rule,  more  level, 
the  expense  of  irrigation  is  only  about  ten  dollars 
per  acre.  These  lands  cover  vast  areas,  fit  to  make 
homesteads  for  millions  of  our  people.  This 
problem  is,  however,  one  for  the  nation,  rather  than 
for  individuals.  President  Roosevelt  justly  says, 
*' There  is  no  one  question  now  before  the  people 

[73] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chaptfr 


of  the  United  States  of  greater  importance  than 
that  of  the  water  supply  and  the  reclamation  of 
the  arid  lands,  and  their  settlement  by  men  who 
will  actually  build  homes  and  create  communities. 
Throughout  our  history  the  success  of  the  home- 
maker  has  been  but  another  name  for  the  upbuild- 
ing of  the  nation."  Irrigation  by  the  government, 
supplemented  by  individual  economy,  shows  that 
in  Arizona,  where  high-class  fruits  are  cultivated,  a 
family  of  five  can  obtain  a  good  living  upon  forty 
acres,  or  even  from  twenty. 

A  bulletin  issued  by  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  reports  on  the  cost  of  a  small 
system  of  irrigation.  It  makes  its  estimate  of  a 
ditch  one  and  a  quarter  miles  long,  with  main  lat- 
erals five-eighths  of  a  mile  long.  The  first  cost  of 
removing  the  dirt  from  the  ditches  would  be  a  little 
over  sixty-two  dollars.  The  cost  of  head-gate, 
drop,  division  boxes,  and  other  appurtenances  is 
set  down  at  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars, 
adding  twelve  dollars  for  making  levels  and  running 
lines.  The  total  cost  will  not  be  far  from  two  hun- 
dred dollars.  The  annual  outlay  for  maintaining 
ditches  and  irrigating  will  be  about  sixty-eight  dol- 
lars more.     In  this  estimate  the  farmer  is  supposed 

[74] 


four]  water   supply 


to  hire  all  the  work  done.  If  he  can  do  the  work 
himself  his  outlay  will  be  mainly  for  lumber,  re- 
ducing the  cost  about  one-half. 

It  not  unfrequently  occurs,  in  our  hilly  states, 
that  a  farmer  may  dam  a  glen  brook,  and  lead  the 
water  to  his  house,  or  to  his  barn,  or  both,  at  the 
same  time  doing  more  or  less  irrigating.  I  know 
one  who  has  constructed  a  very  solid  dam,  at  an 
expense  of  about  two  hundred  dollars.  From  this 
reservoir  pipes  lead  the  water  down  a  swale,  to  his 
house  and  outbuildings.  At  the  house  he  has  es- 
tablished a  hydrant,  from  which  a  hose,  in  case  of 
fire,  could  cover  his  buildings  with  water.  An- 
other pipe  supplies  a  tank  with  flowing  water,  in 
quantity  suflScient  for  a  large  number  of  cows  and 
horses.  The  kitchen  garden  can  be  irrigated  by 
leading  a  hose  from  the  hydrant  near  the  house. 
He  can  flood  his  celery  when  he  pleases.  A  small 
strawberry  bed  has  its  paths  a  little  deeper  than 
usual,  and  these  become  irrigation  ditches  when 
necessary.  "  Does  it  pay  ?'"  "  It  certainly  does,  in 
half  a  dozen  ways.  The  barn  supply  alone,  of  pure 
spring  water,  would  compensate  for  the  cost  of  the 
dam;  but,  you  see,  my  house  is  practically  safe 
from  fire,     I  carry  some  fire  insurance,  but  I  don't 

[75] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

rely  upon  it.  In  my  judgment  insurance  never 
makes  good  an  honest  man's  loss.  His  house  is 
full  of  himself,  sir,  and  an  old  man  never  feels  like 
building  another.  If  he  does,  he  will  never  be 
quite  at  home  in  it." 

I  have  tided  over  one  or  two  droughts  in  straw- 
berry time  with  a  pipe  dropped  into  a  well,  and 
then,  with  an  elbow,  carried  down  among  my  beds. 
You  have  to  start  the  flow,  after  which  it  works  by 
siphonage.  Of  course  the  flow  will  soon  empty  an 
ordinary  well;  and  the  well  must,  itself,  stand  con- 
siderably higher  than  the  field  to  be  irrigated.  It  is 
not  an  admirable  provision,  but  may  save  us  a 
heavy  loss  when  we  have  no  better  provision.  In 
all  cases,  just  as  soon  as  the  wetted  soil  is  beyond 
the  mud  state,  you  should  run  a  cultivator,  and  turn 
the  drier  soil  to  the  top.  This  will  hold  in  the  mois- 
ture for  two  or  three  days;  otherwise  it  will  dry 
rapidly,  and  leave  the  surface  of  the  soil  baked  and 
cracking.  Then  if  the  drought  comes,  the  irriga- 
tion may  prove  to  have  been  a  positive  damage. 
Even  when  watering  with  pails,  the  wetted  soil 
should  at  once  be  covered  with  dry  soil,  to  prevent 
evaporation.  Never  sprinkle  a  strawberry  bed,  or 
any  other  ground,  with  the  idea  that  the  soil  or 

[76] 


FOUR]  WATER   SUPPLY 


plants  will  be  benefited  by  a  casual  sprinkling. 
The  earth  must  be  thoroughly  wetted,  so  that  the 
moisture  will  reach  the  roots  of  the  plants,  or  more 
harm  than  good  will  be  done. 

The  best  time  of  day  for  irrigating  is  open  to  dis- 
cussion. If  water  be  applied  in  the  morning  it  is 
more  readily  evaporated  by  the  heat  of  the  day;  if 
applied  in  the  evening  it  is  working  at  the  roots  of 
the  plants,  to  feed  them  all  night.  Mr.  Saunders, 
a  skilled  horticulturist,  gives  this  rule:  "Water  at 
any  time  when  the  plants  need  it,  only  water  thor- 
oughly. When  I  am  told  that  watering  in  the  sun- 
shine, at  noon,  will  burn  up  my  plants,  I  answer 
that  the  plants  will  certainly  burn  up  if  I  do  not 
water  them."  The  most  important  point  is  to  see 
that  the  wet  earth  is  mulched  with  dry.  Cultivat- 
ing is  often  called  soil  mulching. 

It  is  equally  important  to  use  mulches  about  trees, 
in  order  to  retain  moisture  and  to  keep  the  soil  in 
a  condition  to  absorb  moisture.  Many  people  use 
mulches  in  their  strawberry  beds,  filling  the  paths 
with  cut  straw  or  other  material  that  will  prevent 
evaporation.  The  best  material  to  apply  about 
young  trees  is  probably  coal  ashes.  It  is  sufficient- 
ly porous,  and  yet,  if  laid  thickly  about  the  tree,  it 

[77] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

will  do  admirable  service.  Tan-bark  is  often  a  con- 
venient substance,  while  chip-waste  will  serve, 
where  it  can  be  obtained  in  quantity;  better  yet 
sawdust.  Weeds  will  not  easily  come  up  through 
the  ashes,  but  will,  in  time,  work  their  way  through 
sawdust.  The  mulch  should  be  removed  once  a 
year,  the  soil  thoroughly  forked,  and  then  the  mulch 
replaced  or  renewed. 

You  can  coax  a  brook  to  do  almost  anything,  from 
turning  a  boy's  mimic  wheel  to  forming  a  carp  pond 
or  a  cranberry  bog.  A  neighbor  has  built  a  dam 
across  a  brook,  and  it  goes  down  to  irrigate  his  gar- 
den, to  fill  water-lily  tubs,  and  then  create  a  garden 
pond,  where  he  has  a  fountain  constantly  playing. 
But  the  best  part  of  the  brook  is,  after  all,  up  under 
the  limbs  of  the  huge  willows,  where  the  bare-foot- 
ed boys  can  wade,  or  take  a  noonday  bath.  Utili- 
zation of  brooks  does  not  consist  wholly  in  the  use 
of  the  water  for  houses,  barns,  and  irrigation.  Al- 
ways buy  a  brook,  if  you  can,  while  seeking  a  coun- 
try home.  The  most  beautiful  thing  in  the  country 
is  a  brook  that  sweeps  and  tumbles,  and  whirls 
about  and  eddies,  —  kissing  the  overhanging  rocks 
—  that  bathes  the  tree  roots,  plays  with  the  peb- 
bles, dashes  spray  over  the  lichens,  and  then  carries 

[78] 


THE   MOST   BEAUTIFUL   THING    IN   THE    COUNTRY    IS   A    BROOK 


four]  water   supply 

off  autumn  leaves,  to  hide  them  under  logs,  or 
spread  them  in  the  meadows  for  humus;  and  all 
the  while  is  the  happy  home  of  fish  and  salaman- 
ders, and  of  crabs  that  walk  sideways  and  lift  ri- 
diculous gauntlets  to  the  man  in  the  moon.  A 
country  without  brooks  is  always  a  lonesome  place. 
The  New  England  States  and  the  Middle  States 
are  in  nothing  else  richer  than  in  those  streams 
that  gush  out  of  the  hillsides.  If  you  have  one  it  is 
for  you  to  study,  to  companion,  and  listen  to  its 
advice.  I  mean  that  man,  who  cannot  live  by 
bread  alone,  cannot  live  by  bread  and  water  —  that 
the  poetry  of  a  country  home  is  just  as  essential  a 
part  of  it  as  the  gardens  and  the  orchards. 

In  the  making  of  new  homes  in  the  country,  es- 
pecially in  the  West,  nothing  so  fixes  family  life  — 
so  settles  it  to  a  locality  and  creates  the  home  feel- 
ing, as  a  good  well.  It  was  about  water  that  Eastern 
civilization  clustered  and  developed,  and  it  is  not 
wholly  otherwise  with  us.  So  it  is  that  health,  com- 
fort and  homefulness  all  unite  about  the  deep  and 
copious  well.  The  cost  is  absolutely  nothing  as 
compared  with  the  resultant  blessing.  As  I  write 
I  read  of  a  drought  in  Texas.  The  writer  says, 
"There  are  few  wells  hereabouts;  and  most  of  the 

[79] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


houses  are  built  adjacent  to  streams."  "Age," 
says  an  eminent  physician,  "is  dryness  and  ossifi- 
cation. To  remain  young,  drink  water  —  pure 
and  soft  water.  Judicious  fasting,  plentiful  water- 
drinking,  deep  breathing,  daily  bathing,  individual 
thinking,  bring  health,  beauty  and  success."  I 
shall  feel  that  my  book  has  failed  of  a  chief  end, 
if  it  do  not  quicken  in  you  a  resolve  that,  whatever 
else  you  deny  yourself  and  your  family,  you  will 
make  sure  of  a  deep,  unfailing  supply  of  pure 
water. 


[80] 


CHAPTER    FIVE 
LAWNS   AND   SHRUBBERIES 


1  HE  creation  of  a  beautiful  lawn  is  the  work  of 
an  artist.  If  you  have  culture  yourself,  it  will  find 
shape  and  expression  without  trouble  in  lovely 
grass  plots,  and  in  the  grouping  of  trees  and  shrubs. 
You  must  never  get  very  far  from  nature;  that  is, 
you  must  not  adopt  artifice  and  artificial  arrange- 
ments that  bring  you  into  contrast  sharply  with 
natural  grouping.  The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  lay 
out  a  drive.  If  you  have  secured  an  old  home- 
stead with  trees,  the  drives  must  adjust  themselves 
to  whatever  is  in  the  way.  Fashion  just  now  has  a 
whim  for  straight  paths;  but  common  sense  and 
good  taste  place  the  entrance  or  entrances  of  your 
place  where  they  will  allow  an  approach  to  the 
house,  very  nearly  as  you  would  stroll  in  if  there 
were  no  roads  at  all.  In  this  way  the  drives  would 
probably  start  not  far  from  the  corners,  and  would 
curve  about  your  shrubs  and  trees;  and  at  every 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME  [chafier 


point  they  would  give  you  a  view  of  your  house, 
and  of  your  property  so  far  as  possible;  and  they 
would  pick  up  beautiful  outlooks  in  the  valley  be- 
low, or  into  some  adjacent  or  distant  landscape. 
A  group  of  shrubs  will  cause  a  bend  in  the  road ; 
then  you  pass  through  a  grove  possibly,  under  an 
old  linden,  or  around  a  Kentucky  coffee  tree  with 
its  strange  armlets  drooping  down  almost  to  the 
ground. 

t  I  do  not  argue  that  a  poor  man  should  trace  out 
long  drives  and  make  picturesqueness  the  domin- 
ant idea  in  creating  a  country  homestead.  Yet  the 
poorest  resident  in  the  country  cannot  afford  to 
omit  a  regard  for  the  beautiful.  In  the  long  run 
the  cheapest  place  gains  in  money  value  by  having 
sacrificed  a  little  in  the  way  of  making  things  pleas- 
ant to  the  eye.  "Well,  sor,"  says  a  neighbor  from 
Erin,  "says  I  to  Margaret,  'I'll  not  say  but  the  pig 
will  have  as  good  digestion  a  little  out  of  the  sight 
of  the  people,  and  a  few  roses  in  his  place.'  And 
Margaret,  says  she, '  I've  a  feeling  we  needn't  make 
ourselves  conspicuous  for  weeds  and  frog  holes.'  So 
betwixt  us  we  just  imitated  the  fine  places  upon  the 
hill;  and,  sor,  now  we  can  think  beautiful  things 
ourselves."     My   Irish  friend   hit  the  mark   pre- 

[82] 


FxvE]  LAWNS   AND   SHRUBBERIES 


cisely.  The  educative  force  of  a  beautiful  place, 
or  an  effort  at  creating  a  beautiful  home,  is  very 
great  and  constant.  The  influence  is  interactive 
—  always  so.  You  become  admirable  by  admir- 
able deeds;  and  beautiful  by  planting  beautiful 
things.  Tliis  is  really  the  object  and  end  of  this 
whole  di-ift  toward  the  country.  We  wish  to  get 
out  of  the  city  in  order  to  plant  fine  ideas  in  the  soil. 
It  pays  to  make  our  roads  well  at  the  outset.  It 
almost  always  occurs  that  in  any  neighborhood 
there  is  some  specific  material  peculiarly  adapted 
to  making  roads.  My  own  drives  were  first  thor- 
ouglily  drained  with  six-inch  pipes — nothing  else 
will  do  on  a  hillside.  When  a  flush  of  water  comes 
it  must  be  carried  away  with  rapidity.  These 
pipes  lie  about  eighteen  inches  under  the  surface, 
and  wind  their  way  with  the  drives,  until  they  come 
together  in  a  larger  drain,  and  thence  into-the  high- 
way. It  needs  considerable  study  and  watching 
of  the  work  of  showers  to  determine  just  where  a 
little  additional  work  shall  be  done  in  the  way  of 
surface  drainage.  You  can  soon  determine  just 
about  where  these  cross-cuts  and  side-cuts  are  nec- 
essary. They  should  catch  the  water  before  it 
accumulates,  and  throw  it  to  one  side,  or  into  the 

[83] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


pipes.  In  this  section  I  find  no  better  material 
than  furnace  slag  for  a  basis ;  and  over  this  a  thick 
dressing  of  red  shale.  This  sort  of  material,  of 
course,  cannot  be  secured  everywhere.  But  where 
it  cannot  be  obtained,  there  is  either  a  deposit  of 
gravel  within  reach,  or  possibly  coarse  sand,  which 
can  be  laid  over  broken  stone.  At  all  events,  do 
not  be  stingy  in  the  way  of  making  your  drives  sure 
and  solid  at  the  outset.  Otherwise  they  will  soon 
be  broken  up,  and  make  you  continuous  trouble. 
I  have  a  length  of  private  drives  far  longer  than  is 
needful  for  many  country  homesteads,  but  I  find 
no  difficulty  in  keeping  them  in  excellent  condition 
by  top  dressing  once  in  six  or  eight  years.  The 
slag  will  hold  good  for  almost  any  length  of  time. 
Like  all  other  road-making,  the  secret  lies  in  watch- 
fulness; neglect  for  a  few  weeks  will  render  your 
drives  very  much  like  our  common  highways,  a 
complication  of  ruts  and  puddles.  I  imagine  that 
a  good  private  driveway  becomes  an  example  for 
the  public  road  commissioner.  It  will  be  neces- 
sary to  go  over  these  drives  about  once  a  month,  to 
remove  any  litter  and  to  hoe  out  grass  and  weeds. 
Drives  should  not  be  indulged  in  at  all  unless  they 
can  be  kept  tidy.     I  find  a  few  of  my  neighbors  are 

[84] 


five]  lawns   and   shrubberies 


inclined  to  consider  drives  and  walks  so  distinct, 
that  the  driveway  for  wagons  is  not  allowed  to  pass 
around  the  house.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  our 
best  way  is  to  have  good,  broad  drives,  passing  en- 
tirely around  the  house,  and  thence  to  the  barn. 
Hedges  I  shall  speak  of  in  another  chapter,  and 
refer  to  them  here  as  often  finding  their  best  serv- 
ice in  bordering  a  driveway. 

As  a  rule,  the  front  lawn  should  not  be  given  to 
flowers,  although  occasionally  it  may  be  a  shrubbery. 
But  if  you  are  the  owner  of  four  or  five  acres,  or 
more,  it  will  be  better  to  have  a  tree  lawn  between 
you  and  the  street.  Reach  your  shrubbery  and 
your  flowers  where  there  is  a  degree  of  privacy. 
We  certainly  are  not  going  into  the  country  to  hide 
ourselves,  or  to  have  all  our  enjoyments  to  our- 
selves alone;  but  we  do  desire,  and  we  do  need,  a 
retreat  from  publicity.  When  we  get  off  the  front 
door-step  of  city  life  we  do  not  intend  to  become 
squatters  along  the  roadside  of  the  country.  But 
multiply  your  retreats  as  you  may,  you  will  find 
abundant  opportunities  to  invite  your  chosen 
friends  to  sit  with  you  in  rustic  seats  under  your 
apple  trees,  or  to  walk  with  you  among  your  floral 
pets.     With  walks  and  drives  rightly  adjusted,  a 

[85] 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


ten-acre  homestead  may  easily  have  devoted  an 
acre,  or  even  two  acres,  to  selected  trees,  either  at 
the  front  of  the  house  or  flanking  the  front.  An 
English  homestead  is  generally  open  toward  the 
street,  while  the  drives  approach  through  border- 
ing shrubbery,  or  under  trees.  Our  American 
landscape,  with  more  slopes  and  hills,  gives  us 
greater  opportunities  for  broader  views  over  val- 
leys, so  that  a  street  front  is  not  so  essential.  If 
you  have  but  two  or  three  acres,  or  if  you  are  a 
truck  farmer,  needing  economy  in  the  use  of  land, 
still  plant  a  half-dozen  fine  trees  before  your  cot- 
tage—  a  beech  grove,  perhaps,  or  a  group  of  lin- 
dens, or  a  grove  of  maples.  An  orchard  neatly 
kept  is  just  the  thing;  only,  I  am  afraid,  it  will 
sadly  fail  of  proper  care.  The  awful  neglect  and 
the  abuse  that  apple  trees  undergo  make  it  dan- 
gerous to  recommend  them  for  a  front  lawn. 

The  laying  out  of  a  tree  lawn  must  not  be  al- 
lowed to  depend  altogether  on  your  taste,  for  it  is 
this  laying  out  of  your  home  that  is  going  to  create 
a  better  taste.  Especially  do  not  mistake  a  mere 
greedy  desire  for  trees  as  a  safe  guide.  There  are 
really  no  sights  in  America  more  unpleasant  than 
the  front  lawns  of  our   average  country   homes. 

[86] 


FIVE]  LAWNS   AND   SHRUBBERIES 


Odd  trees  and  weeping  trees  are  made  conspicu- 
ous, and  then  made  more  disagreeable  by  multi- 
plicity. Evergreens  are  made  monstrous  by  shear- 
ing, and  these  are  thrust  into  the  eye  of  the  public 
in  rows.  Evergreens  should  almost  never  be  plant- 
ed in  rows  —  never  except  for  windbreaks,  or  a 
possible  avenue. 

A  maple  grove  is  a  delight  always  —  provided  you 
understand  the  maple  characteristics.  Most  peo- 
ple utterly  fail  to  grow  sound  and  clean  maple 
trees.  It  is  a  tree  that  must  be  well  fed  with  soil 
humus;  and  the  bark  must  not  be  exposed,  by  care- 
less trimming,  to  the  sun.  Better  by  all  odds  than 
the  sugar  maple,  for  a  lawn,  is  the  Norway.  This 
is  the  very  ideal  of  all  lawn  and  shade  trees.  Its 
growth  is  nearly  one-third  more  rapid  than  any 
other  maple,  and  its  milky,  acrid  juice  prevents  it 
from  being  acceptable  food  for  worms.  I  do  not 
think  I  ever  saw  one  in  any  way  defoliated  or  in- 
jured by  insects.  It  is,  however,  susceptible  to 
winter  blisters.  The  water  maple  is  another  glor- 
ious affair;  and  if  you  will  take  a  little  care,  you  can 
get  specimens  fully  equal  to  the  most  superb  Japan- 
ese maples.  For  myself  I  love  the  beech,  either  in 
a  grove  or  as  a  single  tree.     Very  unique  and  very 

[87] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chafteb 


charming  is  the  Kentucky  coffee  tree.  The  male 
combines  a  drooping  form  with  fine  spread  of 
limbs  and  elegant  foliage.  I  know  of  no  insects 
that  ever  assail  it»  Elms  must  be  planted  only 
where  you  have  abundant  room  for  their  full  ex- 
pansion—  not  less  than  a  diameter  of  a  hundred 
feet.  A  white  elm  is  intensely  individualized.  It 
is  itself,  to  the  finger-tips  of  every  limb.  It  has  no 
desire  for  cooperation,  and  it  does  not  like  close 
neighborhood.  The  red  elm  is  unfit  for  lawns, 
because  it  is  in  a  stage  of  indecision  in  its  evolu- 
tion—  not  quite  willing  or  ready  to  spread  out  its 
limbs  low  down,  and  not  quite  ready  to  lift  them 
aloft  like  a  white  elm.  The  cork  barked  elm 
can  be  found  very  generally  in  the  New  England 
States  and  New  York,  and  is  fine  for  a  small  lawn. 
This  tree  also  does  not  like  to  be  crowded.  The 
cork  barked  maple  is  peculiarly  suited  to  small 
lawns,  having  a  very  round  head,  not  exceeding 
twenty  feet  in  diameter  —  rarely  that. 

Among  our  native  trees,  I  know  of  few  that  for 
general  planting  are  preferable  to  the  magnolia 
acuminata  —  a  thoroughly  hardy  tree,  growing  as 
erect  as  an  arrow  could  be  shot.  This  tree  holds 
its  arm  in  a  fine  curve,  without  the  least  drooping. 

[88] 


FIVE]  LAWNS   AND   SHRUBBERIES 


The  sassafras  is  another  tree  adapted  to  small 
lawns;  and  in  addition  to  those  named,  what  can 
be  finer  than  the  catalpa  ?  Some  of  the  crossbred 
varieties  do  not  attain  a  very  great  height,  and  can 
therefore  be  used  where  space  is  limited.  Mr. 
Teas  has  introduced  a  fine  purple-leaved  sort  that 
is  remarkably  beautiful,  both  in  blossom  and  in 
leaf.  Our  hardy  native  catalpa  is  suitable  for 
large  lawns,  either  for  single  trees  or  in  groups. 
Other  small  lawn  trees  are  the  salisburia  or  ginkgo 
—  a  very  unique  representative  of  vegetation  that 
covered  the  earth  before  our  deciduous  trees.  I 
myself  admire  very  much  the  foliage  and  the 
growth  of  the  persimmon.  It  is  entirely  hardy  as 
far  north  as  Canada;  growing  30  to  40  feet  high, 
and  bearing  great  loads  of  golden  fruit  that,  if  not 
picked,  make  the  tree  conspicuous  all  winter. 

Yet  when  all  has  been  said  and  done,  we  have 
two  native  trees  that  surpass  everything  else  for 
roomy  lawns  and  avenues  —  everything  excepting 
the  Norway  maple;  I  refer  to  the  white  elm  and 
the  linden  or  basswood.  I  should  plant  the  bass- 
wood  partly  because  of  its  noble  foliage,  and  partly 
because  of  its  delicious  flowers.  It  is  the  great 
honey  tree  of  the  world.      The  linden  has  this 

[89] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chaptfr 

admirable  quality,  that  if  bruised  in  the  bark  it  will 
readily  heal  over;  while  the  maple  is  almost  sure  to 
spread  decay  at  damaged  points. 

I  append  a  list  of  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  twen- 
ty-five best  lawn  trees:  The  white  elm,  the  Hunt- 
ington elm,  the  white  ash,  the  native  beech,  the 
double  red-flowered  horse  chestnut,  the  native  lin- 
den, the  Norway  maple,  the  Wiers  cut-leaved 
maple,  the  sugar  maple;  the  swamp  or  water  maple, 
magnolia  acuminata,  the  American  white  oak,  the 
macrocarpa  or  burr  oak,  the  tulip  tree;  adding  to 
these  for  evergreens  the  Norway  spruce,  the  Amer- 
ican arbor-vitae,  the  white  pine,  the  Scotch  pine, 
the  hemlock;  and  for  nut  trees  adding  the  butter- 
nut, the  hickorynut,  the  walnut,  and  the  chestnut. 

A  good  list  for  a  small  lawn  might  be  made  out 
of  the  following:  the  cut-leaved  weeping  birch,  the 
purple-leaved  beech,  our  native  bird  cherries,  the 
double-flowered  cherry,  the  double  rose-flowered 
crabapple,  the  Camperdown  weeping  elm,  the 
mountain  ash.  To  these  may  be  added  the  double- 
flowered  peach,  the  double  scarlet  thorn,  the  rose- 
mary-leaved willow,  the  magnolias  Soulangeana 
and  tripetela,  Wiers  cut-leaved  weeping  maple, 
the  Japanese  maples,  and  the  Russian  maples. 

[90] 


FIVE]  LAWNS   AND   SHRUBBERIES 

Where  only  one  very  choice  tree  is  needed,  some 
consideration  must  be  made  of  what  is  wanted  of 
the  tree.  There  is  no  more  homeful  tree  than  the 
common  butternut.  One  of  these  planted  near 
the  house  will  reach  out  its  huge  arms  and  shake 
down  bags  of  nuts ;  adding  very  much  to  household 
good  cheer,  and  to  the  children's  happiness.  It  is 
a  hardy,  long-lived  tree,  but  it  hates  neighbors.  If 
crowded,  the  limbs  will  die,  while  underneath  and 
about  the  roots  almost  nothing  will  grow.  It  is  a 
curious  fact,  however,  that  there  are  friendships  in 
vegetation.  The  wild  cherry  will  nestle  very  closely 
to  the  butternut,  and  thrive;  but  an  apple  tree  or 
a  pear  tree  positively  refuses  the  association,  while 
vegetables  and  corn  sustain  the  same  prejudice. 
Another  tree  for  single  planting  is  our  magnificent 
weeping  white  elm.  This,  as  I  have  already  said, 
needs  room,  and  abundance  of  it.  It  should  be 
trimmed  up  when  young,  until  it  gets  its  lofty  out- 
look and  sweep  of  limbs.  The  Norway  maple  is, 
if  given  abundance  of  room,  one  of  the  most  mag- 
nificent trees  for  single  planting  that  I  know.  Its 
foliage  is  dense  enough  to  make  it  a  fine  resort  in 
midsummer,  and  in  autumn  its  color  is  unequaled. 
A  single  white  oak  will  also  make  a  lawn  by  itself. 

[91] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


One  white  cut-leaved  birch  is  admirable  near  the 
house,  but  do  not  be  tempted  to  plant  two  or  three 
of  these  unique  trees  in  juxtaposition.  I  have  a 
golden  poplar  which  I  highly  esteem  as  a  remark- 
able tree  for  color,  and  for  close  proximity  to  the 
house;  but  for  shade  it  is  not  eminently  good.  Pos- 
sibly, however,  we  have  not  one  tree  for  single 
planting  more  complete,  when  we  estimate  both 
foliage  and  flowers,  than  the  catalpa  speciosa. 

I  am  strongly  tempted  to  go  somewhat  beyond 
the  restrictions  of  this  chapter  and  give  you  a  list 
of  trees  much  longer,  including  many  that  are  sel- 
dom seen  about  our  country  homes,  but  that  well 
might  be  planted.  I  shall  content  myself  with 
naming  a  very  short  list  of  choice  trees,  from  which 
a  selection  may  be  made.  There  are  several  vari- 
eties of  the  Norway  maple  —  all  of  them  exceedingly 
beautiful.  I  think  the  best  of  these  is  Schwedler's, 
which  differs  from  the  common  sort  in  the  purplish 
green  of  its  older  leaves,  following  a  crimson  shade. 
The  European  alder  is  a  remarkably  rapid  grow- 
ing tree,  with  roundish  foliage,  and  adapted  to 
moist  positions.  The  hybrid  catalpas  I  cannot 
recommend  too  strongly,  both  on  account  of  their 
superb  foliage  and  equally  fine  flower.   The  golden- 

[92] 


FIVE]  LAWNS   AND   SHRUBBERIES 


leaved  and  the  purple-leaved  are  hybrids  not  to 
be  overlooked.  The  weeping  beech  is  a  very  pic- 
turesque tree,  with  spreading  and  tortuous  limbs 
—  the  foliage  very  beautiful.  The  virgilia  lutea, 
or  yellowwood,  is  one  of  the  finest  American  trees. 
It  gives  us  a  round  head,  of  light  green-shaded 
foliage,  turning  to  a  warm  yellow  in  autumn.  In 
June  it  is  covered  with  pea-shaped  flowers,  hanging 
in  long  racemes.  This  tree  belongs  in  your  small 
lawn  list,  as  it  rarely  reaches  a  height  of  more  than 
twenty  feet.  The  gleditschia,  or  honey  locust,  is 
a  rapid  growing  tree,  with  exquisite  foliage;  but  I 
cannot  recommend  it  unless  you  are  able  to  secure 
the  thornless  variety.  Another  good  small  lawn 
tree  is  Koelreuteria  paniculata  —  a  Chinese  tree 
with  a  small  round  head,  covered  in  July  with  gold- 
en flowers.  In  the  Southern  States,  of  course,  our 
list  of  magnolias  may  be  considerably  enlarged. 
Be  sure  that  this  tree  is  never  moved  in  the  au- 
tumn. The  tulip  tree,  or  whitewood,  is  a  magnificent 
tree  found  in  our  Western  States,  and  fully  equal 
to  magnolia  acuminata  —  with  the  single  exception 
that  the  growth  is  more  easily  made  one-sided 
and  defective.  The  negundo  maple  or  box  elder 
is  another  native  tree  of  attractive  habit  and  rapid 

[93] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


growth.  It  has  leaves  like  the  ash,  but  its  seeds 
class  it  among  the  maples.  The  paulownia,  or 
empress  tree,  is  a  superb  importation  from  Japan. 
Its  flower  buds  are  sometimes  killed,  but  otherwise 
it  is  able  to  endure  our  severest  winters.  The 
leaves  are  twelve  to  fourteen  inches  across.  In 
some  parts  of  the  country  the  buckeye,  or  Ohio 
horse-chestnut,  is  indispensable.  It  is  much  larger 
than  the  ordinary  horse-chestnut,  and  its  leaves 
are  smoother.  The  nuts  are  an  attractive  feature  of 
this  tree.  Most  of  the  poplars  are  a  nuisance  on  a 
lawn,  but  the  Lombardy  has  its  place,  especially 
on  high  points.  It  is  also  useful  for  windbreaks. 
Reaching  its  steeplelike  limbs  straight  upward,  it 
can  be  planted  in  close,  hedge-like  rows.  The  list 
of  good  oaks  is  very  long.  The  scarlet  oak  and  the 
pin  oak  are  two  of  the  very  best.  Several  of  the 
willows  are  meritorious,  because  of  their  early  blos- 
soming or  their  golden  or  silvery  foliage.  The 
royal  willow  and  the  golden  willow  and  the  laurel- 
leaved  are  three  of  the  best.  On  a  small  lawn  the 
Kilmarnock  weeping  willow  is  not  out  of  place,  if 
not  too  conspicuous.  Of  the  lindens,  the  Euro- 
pean white-leaved,  from  Hungary,  is  a  superb  tree 
in  all  ways.     It  is  notable  for  its  whitish  color,  its 

[94] 


FIVE]  LAWNS   AND   SHRUBBERIES 


perfect  form  and  its  acuminate  leaves.  The  fern- 
leaved  linden  is  also  an  elegant  tree.  The  common 
European  linden  grows  to  a  large  size,  with  large 
leaves  and  fragrant  flowers.  The  list  of  choice 
elms  is  also  very  long,  and  full  of  attractive  trees. 
The  English  elm  is  very  spreading,  and  with  smaller 
leaves  than  our  American.  The  nettle-leaved  elm 
is  a  very  curious  tree,  with  some  claims  to  general 
planting. 

We  now  turn  to  the  shrubbery.  I  know  that  at 
the  outset  most  of  my  readers  will  be  unprepared 
to  follow  me  when  I  recommend  giving  to  shrubs 
a  large  space.  They  will  yield  about  a  flower  gar- 
den, but  that  there  should  be  a  half  acre  or  more 
of  blossoming  shrubs  they  cannot  believe  essential. 
But  watch  nature,  and  observe  that  she  plants  her 
hillsides  not  only  with  groups  of  trees,  but  with 
great  patches  of  bushes;  and  these  are  really  the 
glory  of  the  successive  seasons.  While  I  write  I 
look  over  the  valley,  and  see  plains  of  sumac  — 
slopes  of  half  an  acre  each  that  blaze  with  it.  Then 
all  up  and  down  the  sides  of  the  creek  run  a  shrub- 
bery of  elder  bushes,  twisted  and  twined  with  bit- 
tersweet, and  grape  vines  full  of  huge  clusters 
of  purple  berries.     All   above  these  hang  willow 

[95] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


limbs,  which  are  also  fringed  with  great  masses  of 
the  yellow  berries  of  the  bittersweet,  and  clusters 
of  white  clematis  seeds.  A  little  while  ago  a  group 
of  red-fruited  wild  cherries  stood  out  in  rich  relief 
on  a  knoll  in  the  valley ;  but  now  the  birds  have  eat- 
en the  cherries,  and  are  chattering  and  feasting  to- 
day in  a  half-dozen  mountain  ash  trees  that  fill  a 
hollow  near  the  mill.  Our  home  world  is  wonder- 
fully supplied  with  blossoming  shrubs;  and  I  never 
discovered  half  of  them  until  I  began  to  make  a 
collection. 

I  recommend  the  following,  that  you  will  find 
generally  wild  about  New  England  and  the  Middle 
States  —  the  barberries;  the  dogwoods,  in  five  or 
six  varieties ;  the  wild  plums  and  the  wild  cherries ; 
the  elder,  the  filbert,  and  the  rubus  in  variety.  Be- 
sides these  the  thorns  are,  many  of  them,  exceed- 
ingly beautiful,  and  the  double  ones  as  well  as  single 
ones  have  found  their  way  into  the  woods.  The 
Tartarian  honeysuckles  are  naturalized  over  quite 
an  extent  of  territory,  and  many  of  the  spireas  that 
are  scattered  everywhere  are  beautiful  indeed.  For 
early  Spring  bloom  the  ribes  in  variety  are  very 
fine;  also  the  mahonia,  a  native  evergreen  shrub. 
The  fly  honeysuckle  and  the  rock  maple  are  found 

[96] 


five]  lawns   and   shrubberies 


over  a  large  extent  of  territory.  The  euonymous, 
more  common  in  the  West,  is  also  found  in  the  East 
in  wet  localities;  while  the  high-bush  cranberry  is 
one  of  the  grandest  ornaments  of  a  dozen  states. 
The  Judas  tree,  another  Western  shrub,  can  be 
grown  everywhere  in  our  lawns.  Cornus  mascula, 
cornus  paniculata,  and  cornus  florida  constitute 
three  of  the  best  of  the  dogwoods.  The  pawpaw 
is  as  beautiful  for  the  shrubbery  as  it  is  excellent 
for  fruit.  It  likes  moist  soil,  but  can  be  grown  on 
high  soil  by  mulching.  Of  course  we  have  nothing 
finer  than  the  laurels  and  rhododendrons,  where 
they  can  be  grown.  In  the  Southern  States  the 
Stuartia  pentagynia  is  a  superb  plant.  Among  our 
wild  plums  should  be  included  the  purple-leaved. 
Every  section  of  the  country  has,  beside  those 
named,  a  choice  assortment  of  bushes  which  will 
adjust  themselves  to  lawn  growth.  In  this  section 
I  find  the  hazel  bush  to  be  exceedingly  beautiful  in 
October,  and  the  hopple  bush  —  a  hydrangea-like 
shrub  —  is  delightful  in  midsummer.  The  latter  is 
difficult  to  transplant,  requiring  mucky  soil  and 
partial  shade. 

The  whole  world  has  been  ransacked  to  add  to 
our  list  the  beautiful  shrubs  that  nature  has  given 

[97] 


THE    COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 

to  other  lands.  Our  mothers,  of  seventy-five  years 
ago,  had  only  the  common  lilac  and  the  white.  To 
these  we  can  now  add  a  collection  of  at  least  fifty 
grand,  new  sorts  —  a  list  constantly  increasing. 
Among  the  best  of  these,  and  most  easily  obtained, 
are  the  following:  Josiksea,  a  Hungarian  produc- 
tion with  a  tree-like  growth,  and  dark,  shining 
leaves;  it  blossoms  after  the  more  common  sorts. 
The  Persian  lilacs,  both  purple  and  white,  have 
smaller  foliage  and  more  delicate  branches,  covered 
with  superb  masses  of  flowers.  These  varieties  are 
entirely  hardy,  and  should  be  in  every  one's  garden 
or  shrubbery.  The  cserulea,  or  blue  lilac,  is  an- 
other fine  sort;  as  is  also  Charles  X,  with  its  stout 
limbs  and  its  heavy,  red  clusters.  Princess  Alex- 
andra is  one  of  the  largest  white-flowered;  and 
Marie  Legraye  is  another  white  sort,  carrying  mag- 
nificent panicles.  Among  the  newer  sorts  of  very 
fine  quality,  and  now  easily  obtained  at  a  small 
cost,  are  Jean  Bart,  a  double  variety  with  rosy,  car- 
mine flowers;  Frau  Dammann,  a  single  white  with 
very  large  clusters;  Leon  Simon,  another  double, 
with  bluish  crimson  flowers;  Ludwig  Spaeth,  with 
immensely  long  panicles,  and  each  single  flower 
very   large,   with   reddish   purple    hue;    President 

[98] 


five]  lawns   and   shrubberies 

Grevy,  a  beautiful  blue,  with  very  large  and  very 
double  individual  flowers,  measuring  three-quar- 
ters of  an  inch  in  diameter.  This  is  one  of  the 
finest  of  all  the  lilacs.  Michael  Buchner  is  a  dwarf, 
bushy  variety,  with  very  double  pale  flowers  of  a 
delicate  lilac  hue.  This  list  does  not  include  one- 
half  of  the  really  choice  new  lilacs. 

Another  of  the  old-fashioned  flowers  is  the  sy- 
ringa  or  mock  orange.  The  newer  varieties  num- 
ber at  least  twenty-five,  and  are  all  the  way  from 
bushes  of  two  feet  to  twelve  feet  in  height.  A  good 
collection  covers  a  long  season,  of  not  less  than  two 
months.  One  of  the  dwarf  varieties  is  double,  and 
the  flowers  are  rosettes,  equal  to  white  roses  — 
but  they  are  sparsely  borne.  Three  or  four  of  the 
choicest  are  the  grandiflorus,  with  very  large  flow- 
ers; the  nivalis,  with  cream-colored  stamens;  the 
Gordon,  which  has  very  profuse  flowers  very  late 
in  the  season.  The  golden-leaved  syringa  is  a 
small  growing  bush,  with  golden  yellow  foliage; 
and  the  willow-leaved  has  leaves  curled  at  the 
edges;  while  the  downy-leaved  has  soft,  satin-like 
leaves. 

The  old-fashioned  hydrangea,  which  our  moth- 
ers grew  in  tubs,  has  been  supplemented  by  the 

[99] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


oak-leaved,  a  very  hardy  native  bush  with  leaves 
like  the  oak;  and  the  paniculata  grandiflora  — a 
magnificent  shrub  when  well  grown,  with  huge 
bunches  of  white  flowers  a  foot  in  diameter.  These 
are  produced  in  August  and  September,  when  very 
few  shrubs  are  in  flower.  For  this  period  of  the 
year  one  should  also  have  a  good  collection  of 
altheas  —  sometimes  known  as  Rose  of  Sharon. 
Nearly  all  the  varieties  are  entirely  hardy,  but  they 
may  require  a  little  protection  until  two  or  three 
years  of  age.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  all 
shrubs,  like  all  trees,  are  more  tender  when  young 
than  after  a  few  years  of  growth  has  ripened  the 
wood.  I  find,  however,  that  one  of  the  handsom- 
est of  the  altheas,  a  double  variegated  sort,  is  sus- 
ceptible to  freezing  after  it  has  become  matured. 
Among  the  more  beautiful  varieties  are  the  single 
purple,  the  double  red,  the  variegated-leaved,  and 
the  painted  lady.  One  variety  of  the  double  fails 
to  expand  its  flowers,  but  it  is  all  the  more  inter- 
esting because  its  buds,  instead  of  opening,  become 
large  and  solid  masses,  fruit-like.  The  flowers  of 
the  althea  remain  open  but  one  day,  but  the  suc- 
cession is  continuous,  covering  the  whole  bush  with 
a  mass  of  bloom  for  six  weeks. 

[100] 


FIVE]  LAWNS   AND   SHRUBBERIES 


For  your  convenient  reference  I  append  a  list  of 
what  appears  to  me  to  be  twenty-five  of  the  best 
shrubs  for  general  planting.  Altheas  in  variety, 
barberry;  deutzia  in  variety;  dogwood  in  variety; 
euonymous,  American  and  European;  Tartarian 
honeysuckle  in  variety ;  hydrangea  paniculata 
grandiflora;  lilac  in  variety;  prunus  triloba;  Japan- 
quince  in  variety ;  purple  fringe ;  ribesaureum ;  spi- 
rea  in  variety;  syringa  in  variety;  viburnum  in  var- 
iety; weigela  in  variety;  elder;  forsythia;  exochorda; 
Chinese  privet;  dwarf  horse-chestnut.  To  these 
add,  according  to  locality,  for  evergreen,  mountain 
laurel,  rhododendron,  mahonia,  and  box.  \  / 

In  the  arrangement  of  shrubs,  as  of  trees,  we 
must  remember  that  we  are  planting  for  the  whole 
year,  and  not  to  have  something  in  the  spring  or 
for  midsummer  only.  It  is  not  difficult  to  so  ar- 
range our  shrubbery  as  to  modify  the  dullness  of 
winter,  as  well  as  the  warmth  of  summer.  I  rec- 
ommend you  to  plant  very  freely  of  the  barberries 
and  the  high-bush  cranberry.  These,  with  warm, 
red  berries  covering  them  all  winter,  make  January 
comfortable  at  least  to  the  eye.  In  March  and 
April  they  draw  the  cedar  birds  and  the  pine  gros- 
beaks—  beautiful  birds  that  are  very  companion- 

[101] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


able.  They  anticipate  spring  for  at  least  a  month 
before  the  hyacinths  lift  the  soil  —  sometimes  they 
are  here  all  winter.  I  do  not  know  a  handsomer 
and  better  behaved  bird  than  this  pine  grosbeak. 
If  he  drop  a  berry  on  the  snow  he  gets  down  and 
picks  it  up  —  a  touch  of  economy  which  the  robin 
despises.  The  cedar  bird  would  be  more  wel- 
come if  he  never  extended  his  stay  until  cherry 
time.  You  can,  however,  afford  to  plant  an  extra 
tree  or  two  especially  for  this  cheerful  visitor.  You 
will  hardly  get  too  many  barberries.  Standing  al- 
most anywhere  about  your  lawns  or  near  your  barn, 
they  give  us  a  touch  of  brightness  that  no  other  bush 
equals.  The  high-bush  cranberry  has  a  tendency 
to  top-heaviness  and  splitting  down.  Your  best 
way  will  be  to  surround  the  limbs  with  a  heavy  wire 
—  placing  a  piece  of  old  rubber  between  wire  and 
limb. 

In  the  arrangement  of  shrubs,  as  of  trees,  be- 
ware of  the  conventional.  The  Indians  always 
planted  their  apple  orchards  in  groves,  instead  of 
in  rows.  From  the  standpoint  of  beauty  they  were 
correct.  Rows  are  made  essentially  only  to  allow 
the  plow  to  cultivate  the  soil.  A  few  hints  in  plant- 
ting  may  be  worth  the  while,  but  in  general  simply 

[102] 


five]  lawns   and   shrubberies 

try  to  follow  nature's  methods.  (1)  Rows  are  al- 
ways to  be  avoided,  except  for  windbreaks,  and  for 
bordering  straight  drives.  (2)  Shrubs  that  have 
poor  outlines  when  standing  alone  should  be  group- 
ed. (3)  Do  not  repeat  the  same  effect  in  your 
grouping,  but  seek  variety.  (4)  Each  group  of 
shrubs  should  bring  out,  if  possible,  a  succession  of 
bloom.  (5)  Low-growing  shrubs  should  stand  in 
front  of  the  taller.  (6)  Avoid  fancy  grouping  and 
geometrical  outlines.  (7)  Walks  should  not  go 
anywhere  or  nowhere,  but  somewhere;  and  if  they 
bend  they  should  be  bent  around  something.  (8) 
When  you  get  through  planting,  the  effect  should  be 
that  all  parts  fit  together  —  as  the  parts  of  a  group 
create  a  single  whole.  Your  shrubbery  and  your 
lawn  should  not  be  so  individualized  as  not  to  fit 
together,  and  then  bear  no  natural  association 
with  your  gardens  and  orchards. 

The  aim  of  this  book  is  everywhere  to  steer  clear 
of  pettiness  and  small  local  effects,  in  favor  of  gen- 
eral and  unified  beauty  and  utility.  For  this  reas- 
on we  have  nothing  but  disapproval  for  those  lawns 
that  involve  fussiness  and  cost,  and  therefore  are 
without  adequate  compensation.  We  should  not 
indulge  in  little  show  lawns  or  in  trifling  lawns, 

[103] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

which  belong  nowhere  but  in  the  city  —  where  even 
a  spire  of  orchard  grass  dare  not  swing  its  blos- 
soms alongside  a  daisy.  I  am  told  by  a  govern- 
ment expert,  in  one  of  his  reports,  that  "a  good 
lawn  demands  great  skill  and  judgment  in  its  mak- 
ing, as  well  as  in  its  maintenance.  The  chief  charm 
of  a  lawn  consists  in  an  even  stand  of  grass,  of  uni- 
form color,  kept  closely  mown."  This  is  pure 
humbug.  A  large  country  place,  or  a  country 
place  of  only  two  or  three  acres  does  not  call  for 
any  such  sort  of  lawn.  Grasses  are  nearly  all 
beautiful  —  in  blossom  as  well  as  when  sheared  close 
to  the  ground.  A  country  lawn  mowed  three  or 
four  times  a  year  is  satisfactory  and  fits  to  the  coun- 
try; but  a  little  piece  of  grass  plot,  over  which  the 
lawn-mower  is  rattled  all  summer,  is  neither  ap- 
propriate nor  satisfactory.  I  sincerely  recommend 
that  you  abolish  these  intolerable  machines  alto- 
gether. They  have  no  natural  use  about  a  coun- 
try home.  Once  more,  quoting  from  my  expert 
authority,  1  am  told  that  "  in  order  to  secure  a  per- 
fect lawn  we  must  use  a  pure  grass,  such  as  Ken- 
tucky blue  grass,  or  the  mixture  must  be  so  per- 
fectly made  from  grasses  of  like  habit  of  growth 
and  of  coloring,  that  a  mottled  effect  will  be  avoid- 

[104] 


FIVE]  LAWNS   AND   SHRUBBERIES 


ed."  Pray  tell  me  why  a  mottled  appearance  on  a 
lawn  is  to  be  reprehended  ?  And  tell  me,  further, 
why  nature  never  found  this  out?  She  mottles 
things  without  shame  or  apparently  the  least 
thought  of  making  a  blunder.  The  educated  eye 
finds  nothing  in  the  country  more  beautiful  than 
the  variegation  of  color.  No  two  trees  on  our 
lawns  are  shaded  the  same  green.  Shall  we  under- 
take to  eliminate  all  but  one  color  .^  Shall  we  re- 
fuse to  allow  a  maple  to  stand  beside  an  oak,  or  in 
autumn  shall  we  forbid  the  crimson  and  the  gold 
to  mingle  with  the  green  ?  It  is  very  vital  for  us  to 
get  rid  of  these  false  notions  of  natural  beauty.  A 
bit  of  undandelioned  grass  plot,  dug  at,  picked  at, 
and  fussed  over,  will  do  in  a  city  or  village;  but  on 
a  true  country  homestead  let  nature  laugh  and 
play  and  have  her  own  way. 


[105] 


CHAPTER    SIX 
WINDBREAKS   AND   HEDGES 


1  HERE  is  no  one  subject  more  important  in  every 
case  of  establishing  a  country  home  than  planting 
of  windbreaks.  We  can  greatly  modify  climate, 
and,  what  is  more  important,  can  break  the  force 
of  windstorms  by  such  provisions  as  I  shall  de- 
scribe. It  is  not  always  possible  to  secure  a  home 
under  a  western  protected  slope;  and  even  when  it 
is  possible,  the  wind  will  sometimes  inflict  injury. 
A  strong  growth  of  arbor-vitse  or  hemlock,  or  of 
some  deciduous  tree  of  close  growth,  like  beech  or 
linden,  is  sometimes  a  necessity,  and  always  an  ad- 
vantage. This  subject  has  not  yet  received  any- 
thing like  enough  consideration  among  farmers 
and  residents  in  the  country.  Nature  always  at- 
tends to  it  promptly.  Along  fence  lines,  or  where- 
ever  she  pleases  to  work,  she  starts  a  growth  of  bird- 
sown  trees  and  shrubs  —  abundantly  of  wild  cherry 
and  mountain  ash.     To  them  the  wind  adds  its 


NOTHING    IS   MORE    IMPORTANT   THAN    PLANTING    WINDBREAKS 


WINDBREAKS   AND   HEDGES 


contribution  of  ash,  maple,  and  elm  seeds.  These 
make  rapid  growth,  of  a  miscellaneous  but  gener- 
ally beautiful  character.  Elder  bushes,  dogwood, 
and  many  other  beautiful  wild  bushes  form  fringes ; 
and  grapes  with  bittersweet  and  clematis  climb  and 
festoon  them.  The  wise  farmer  understands  the 
value  of  these  buttresses  against  storms,  and  does 
not  cut  them ;  but  the  man  who  makes  a  clean  sweep 
counts  them  rubbish,  and  roots  them  out.  He  will 
suffer  for  it  in  a  decreased  crop,  in  unbalanced  tem- 
perature, and  in  broken  trees. 

The  artificial  windbreak  is  a  very  tall  hedge,  or 
it  is  a  close  row  of  trees.  A  strip  of  natural  wood- 
land will  serve  the  same  purpose,  if  the  owner  takes 
pains  to  cultivate  it,  trim  it,  and  prevent  destruc- 
tion. The  extensive  farmer  can  do  nothing  wiser 
than  to  plant  one  acre  out  of  every  ten  to  forest 
trees.  The  result  of  needless  forest  destruction 
carried  on  through  the  nineteenth  century  has 
made  our  summers  hotter  and  dryer,  and  our  win- 
ters not  colder,  but  liable  to  excessive  extremes. 
Our  smaller  homesteads,  however,  suffer  quite  as 
sadly  from  the  unbroken  storm  as  do  the  larger 
farms.  The  sweeping  wind  bears  away  the  mois- 
ture of  the  soil,  and  dries  up  the  plants.     It  snaps 

[107] 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

off  well-loaded  fruit  limbs,  and  breaks  down  petted 
lawn  trees. 

Among  the  best  large  trees  for  windbreaks,  on 
or  around  the  country  home,  are  the  lindens;  be- 
cause, while  close-growing  and  big-leaved,  they  also 
furnish  vast  stores  of  honey  for  the  bees.  I  fre- 
quently recommend  this  tree,  especially  our  com- 
mon native  basswood,  to  my  friends,  because  of  its 
honey  value  alone.  As  we  shall  see  in  Chapter 
Thirteen,  bees  are  essential  to  fruit  growing,  be- 
sides furnishing  to  us  a  very  important  share  of 
wholesome  food.  A  row  of  twenty  or  thirty  lindens 
will  give  these  active  friends  the  best  of  all  pastures. 
The  foliage  of  the  linden  is  delightful  for  beauty 
and  for  shade ;  and  the  tree  is  absolutely  hardy  and 
healthy.  Beech  trees  are  also  very  stout  and  very 
compact,  so  much  so  that  nothing  can  be  better  for 
windbreaks.  They  grow  more  slowly  than  lindens, 
but  when  they  are  grown,  they  also  contribute  for 
our  pleasure  a  liberal  supply  of  nuts.  I  have  a 
warm  affection  for  a  beech  tree.  I  wish  I  might 
see  them  planted  as  freely  as  they  once  grew  wild 
in  the  days  of  my  childhood.  Norway  maples 
make  a  superb  windbreak,  and  sugar  maples  also 
make  a  fine  stand  against  storms,  if  they  are  kept 

1  108  ] 


six]  windbreaks   and   HEDGES 

healthy;  but,  if  hacked  with  saw  and  axe,  they  soon 
become  diseased,  and  the  homes  of  pestiferous  in- 
sects ;  they  are  then  brittle  before  the  wind. 

Another  economic  windbreak  may  be  made  of 
apple  trees.  When  there  is  only  one  row  these 
can  be  planted  as  close  as  twenty  feet.  Care 
must  be  taken,  however,  in  selecting  tough- wooded 
sorts.  Most  of  our  seedlings  are  not  easily  broken, 
but  Baldwins  and  Roxbury  Russets  would  soon 
become  a  mass  of  brushwood.  The  Wealthy,  the 
Duchess,  the  Golden  Russet,  the  Mcintosh,  and 
nearly  all  apples  of  the  Pippin  family,  especially  the 
White  Pippin,  will  stand  firm,  and  bear  heavy  loads 
of  fruit.  You  will,  however,  have  to  keep  out  suck- 
ers and  look  out  for  borers,  exactly  as  you  would  in 
an  orchard.  Crab  apples  are  especially  adaptable 
for  making  these  protective  walls,  and  they  are  very 
useful  for  fruitage.  Set  them  about  fifteen  feet 
apart  in  a  row.  Let  all  apple  trees,  crabs  included, 
branch  out  four  or  five  feet  from  the  ground.  They 
will  then  bend  down  enough,  with  the  first  load  of 
fruit,  to  make  the  wall  close  and  compact.  A 
hedge  of  Martha,  Florence,  or  Whitney  crab  will 
be  glorious  in  blossom,  and  especially  glorious  in 
fruit. 

[109] 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME  [chafter 


But  for  small  places  I  do  not  know  of  a  wind- 
break better  than  can  be  made  of  the  Buffam  pear. 
This  tree  grows  like  the  Lombardy  poplar,  erect, 
stiff,  and  tough- wooded.  It  is  so  compact  that  you 
may  set  the  trees  eight  or  ten  feet  apart,  and  so 
make  almost  a  solid  wall.  The  fruit  is  only  med- 
ium-sized, and  so  near  to  the  wild  fruit  in  its  tem- 
per, that  it  bears  enormous  crops ;  and  those  in  the 
shade  are  nearly  as  good  as  those  in  the  sun.  Not 
a  high-grade  dessert  fruit,  it  is  not  insignificant  for 
canning  and  jellies,  and  is  particularly  excellent 
for  pickling.  Another  point  not  to  be  overlooked 
is  the  glory  of  a  Buffam  hedge  in  autumn.  In  Oc- 
tober no  other  pear  is  so  superbly  colored  with 
crimson  and  gold.  The  Sheldon  pear  makes  a 
good  windbreak,  but  the  wood  is  brittle.  The 
Anjou  is  one  of  the  best,  on  account  of  its  compact 
growth. 

For  a  low-growing  windbreak  nothing  is  more 
cheery  than  a  row  of  dwarf  apples,  standing  close 
in  a  row.  Among  the  best  varieties  for  this  pur- 
pose are  the  Astrachan,  the  Salome,  the  Porter,  the 
Gravenstein,  the  Summer  "Rose,  the  Hubbardston, 
the  Ingram,  the  Golden  Russet,  and  the  Tolman 
Sweet.     All  of  these  varieties  will  give  you  excel- 

[110] 


SIX]  WINDBREAKS   AND   HEDGES 

lent  apples,  and  will  not  take  up  too  much  space. 
The  demand  for  crab  apples  is  so  greatly  on  the  in- 
crease that  a  hedge  of  dwarf  crabs  might  be  spec- 
ially profitable. 

However,  our  best  resort  against  severe  winds, 
and  our  best  ally  against  a  hard  climate,  are  ever- 
greens. These  trees,  which  represent  a  vegeta- 
tion antedating  our  deciduous  trees,  are  still  of  im- 
mense importance  to  us.  Get  behind  a  large  Nor- 
way spruce  on  a  windy  November  day,  or  behind  a 
good  arbor-vitse  hedge,  and  you  will  be  able  to  de- 
termine their  value  in  modifying  the  climate.  For 
this  section,  and  generally  through  the  Northern 
States,  the  American  and  the  Siberian  arbor-vitaes 
are  the  best  for  general  planting.  The  white  pine 
is  an  evergreen  that  takes  heartily  to  our  Northern 
homes,  and  is  beautiful  almost  beyond  comparison. 
The  hemlock  is  another  native,  of  close  growth 
and  elegant  foliage,  and  when  properly  trimmed  is 
one  of  the  very  best  for  hedges  and  windbreaks. 
For  hedges  I  prefer  the  arbor-vitse,  and  have  hedges 
of  this  admirable  cedar  that  are  more  than  fifty 
years  in  growth,  and  without  a  breach.  The  Nor- 
way spruce  ranks  very  high,  not  only  for  ornamen- 
tal hedges,  but  for  strong  windbreaks.  The  trees, 
[111] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chafter 


however,  should  stand  at  least  twenty-five  feet 
apart,  and  be  allowed  to  develop  individual 
strength.  Do  not  trim  up  any  of  these  trees,  but 
let  them  set  flat  on  the  ground.  The  arbor-vitse 
and  the  hemlock  can  be  planted  more  closely,  so 
that  the  limbs  interlock,  as  in  a  low  hedge.  Select, 
as  a  rule,  an  evergreen  which  is  native  to  your  own 
section,  and  can  be  obtained  for  the  digging.  In 
New  Hampshire  and  Maine  I  should  take  the 
white  pine.  What  magnificent  windbreaks  has 
nature  made  of  these  trees,  on  the  farms  which 
touch  the  mountains  of  the  Granite  State. 

Among  other  less  common  but  really  excellent 
evergreens  for  our  purposes  are:  (1)  The  golden 
arbor-vitse.  This  variety  is  of  Chinese  origin,  and 
is  very  beautiful  with  its  yellowish-green  foliage. 
1  do  not  think  it  quite  hardy  north  of  New  York. 
(2)  Two  small  growing  varieties  of  arbor-vitse  with 
foliage  golden  and  beautiful,  are  the  Hovey  and  the 
George  Peabody.  (3)  The  retinosporas  are  all 
excellent,  but  two  of  them  make  beautiful  bushes 
or  small  trees,  with  rich  golden  color  and  a  plume- 
like foliage.  These  are  retinospora  plumosa  aurea 
and  the  gracilis  aurea.  (4)  Among  the  most  up- 
right growing  evergreens  there  are  some  fine  ones; 

[112] 


six]  windbreaks  and  hedges 


like  pyramidalis  arbor-vitse,  which  resembles  the 
Irish  juniper  when  seen  at  a  distance,  but  is  hardier 
and  more  useful.  This  tree  is  one  of  the  best  for 
small  homesteads.  It  ought  to  be  planted  not 
only  for  windbreaks,  but  for  contrasts  on  our 
lawns.  (5)  The  junipers,  both  the  Swedish  and 
the  Irish,  are  exceedingly  fine  erect-growing  ever- 
greens for  medium-sized  hedges.  The  Irish  vari- 
ety stands  from  ten  to  fifteen  feet  high.  (6)  In  the 
Southern  States  the  Irish  yew  and  the  English  yew 
can  be  planted  to  great  advantage.  The  varie- 
gated yew  is  edged  with  golden  yellow.  (7) 
Among  the  large  and  stronger-growing  evergreens, 
two  of  the  best  for  screens  and  windbreaks  are  the 
Austrian  and  the  Scotch  pine.  (8)  The  Siberian 
arbor- vitse  must  not  be  overlooked.  It  closely  re- 
sembles the  common  variety,  only  that  its  foliage 
grows  cultriform;  that  is,  perpendicular  instead  of 
horizontal.     It  bears  trimming  admirably. 

In  the  Western  States  we  generally  speak  of 
windbreaks  as  farm-shelter  belts.  There  they 
should  be  thick  and  strong,  to  meet  the  broader 
sweep  of  the  winds.  Cottonwood  and  poplar  and 
willow  serve  a  good  purpose  on  large  homesteads; 
but  smaller  homes  should  confine  themselves  to 

[113] 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


poplars,  pears,  apples,  and  evergreens.  Bear  in 
mind  that  the  pear  is  hardier  and  longer-lived  than 
the  apple  —  with  th'^  same  amount  of  care.  Mr. 
L.  B.  Pierce,  a  first-class  horticulturist  of  Ohio, 
says,  "  It  seems  strange  to  me  that  so  many  of  our 
Western  farmers  get  along,  year  after  year,  without 
windbreaks.  My  place  is  warmer  than  many 
others  because  of  the  evergreens,  which  have  been 
planted  twelve  to  sixteen  years.  Northwest  of 
my  house  is  a  row  of  Norway  spruce.  Last  year  I 
thinned  them  out,  and  found  some  thirty-four  feet 
high.  I  set  them  originally  six  feet  apart,  and  took 
out  every  other  tree  to  sell.  I  have  a  little  wind- 
break to  protect  my  kitchen,  and  the  snow  goes  off 
there  some  days  before  it  does  anywhere  else.  It 
makes  an  excellent  shelter  for  the  yard  and  the 
house.  I  know  men  who  have  six-foot  fences 
around  their  barn  lots,  where  arbor-vitse  would 
serve  just  as  well,  and  last  for  thirty  years.  If  it 
grows  too  fast  at  the  bottom  you  may  remove  some 
branches.  The  bottom  ought  to  be  at  least  four 
feet  wide,  or  the  lower  branches  will  die.  Put  your 
protection  on  the  northwest  of  the  house,  or  even 
an  orchard  placed  there  will  be  a  protection,  and 
keep  out  a  good   deal  of  cold."     Another  Ohio 

[lU] 


six]  windbreaks  and  hedges 


nurseryman,  Mr.  J.  J.  Harrison,  says,  "  Many  homes 
are  almost  desolate  for  want  of  common -sense  pro- 
tection. We  have  screens  in  our  nursery,  and  the 
difference  between  being  behind  them  and  outside 
of  their  protection  is  almost  the  difference  between 
being  chilled  through  and  being  by  a  fire.  Most 
of  the  trees  needed  can  be  obtained  by  any  one 
from  a  pasture  lot  or  the  edge  of  a  forest." 

In  some  of  the  Western  cities  school-houses  have 
been  carefully  protected  by  windbreaks.  In  Chi- 
cago some  one  has  planted  Irish  junipers  in  boxes, 
and  these  are  used  for  screens  in  school  yards,  as 
well  as  for  an  ornament.  The  idea  has  caught  so 
that  it  is  not  seldom  one  may  see  these  junipers 
standing  around  a  kitchen  door,  or  to  conceal 
refuse  piles.  They  have  the  advantage  of  being 
movable. 

Now  you  will  wish  to  know  more  about  strictly 
ornamental  windbreaks.  Among  the  shrubs,  the 
Tartarian  honeysuckle  is  incomparably  the  best.  I 
have  described  this  shrub  more  fully  in  another 
chapter.  It  is  hardy,  beautiful  in  flower,  and  more 
beautiful  in  berry.  Best  of  all,  it  quickly  renews 
a  breach.  This  is  a  notable  and  very  valuable 
peculiarity.     There    are     three     varieties,    distin- 

[115] 


THE    COUNTRY    H  O  iM  E  [ruAPTFR 

guished  by  red,  white,  and  pink  flowers.  The  white 
is  the  least  rank  grower ;  and  everywhere  the  pink- 
flowered  is  the  strongest  and  best  for  hedge  or 
windbreak.  The  exochorda  grandiflora  is  a  rare 
shrub,  hard  to  propagate,  but  superb  for  our  pur- 
pose. I  wish  it  were  vastly  more  common.  The 
sassafras,  cut  back,  is  admirable;  and  the  mulberry 
is  among  the  best.  Beeches  can  be  cut  back  and 
made  into  solid  walls,  if  you  choose.  The  Rivers 
purple-leaved  beech  naturally  is  very  thick  and 
close. 

In  all  cases  it  is  well  to  select  shrubs  and  trees 
that  will  furnish  bird  food,  or  bee  food,  or  both. 
You  cannot  conceive,  until  seen,  the  amount  of 
food  furnished  by  a  single  tree  of  mountain  ash. 
A  windbreak  of  this  tree  would  proclaim  your  resi- 
dence to  be  a  bird  paradise.  Birds  of  passage 
seeing  it  would  drop  down  for  a  breakfast ;  and  the 
fame  of  it  would  go  out  north  and  south,  until  you 
would  every  year  have  new  varieties  of  birds  — 
singing  to  you  songs  of  cooperative  love.  The 
wild  cherries  are  also  valuable  in  the  same  way. 
The  birds  eat  the  red  sorts  in  July,  and  the  black 
ones  in  August  and  September.  Nor  do  I  see  any 
reason  why  that  beautiful  bush,  the  elder  —  which 

[116] 


SEC]  WINDBREAKS    AND   HEDGES 


Horatio  Seymour  called  the  handsomest  in  Ameri- 
ca —  shall  not  hide  under  the  windbreak,  and  along 
fence  rows  —  both  for  the  berries  that  feed  the  birds 
and  those  that  we  ourselves  consume.  An  elder- 
berry tart  is  a  toothsome  affair,  even  after  we  are 
seventy. 

A  bee-house  should  have  special  shelter,  and  I 
advise  a  windbreak  clear  around  the  yard,  or  at 
least  on  two  sides.  If  open  to  the  wind  at  all,  let 
it  be  on  the  south  and  east.  Of  course  these  pro- 
tective hedges  should  not  be  so  high  or  so  near  the 
hives  as  to  entirely  exclude  the  sun.  No  orchard 
will  do  its  best  without  a  windbreak ;  and  this  is  par- 
ticularly true  of  a  pear  orchard.  It  often  happens 
that  a  high  wind  in  September  strips  the  trees  of  half 
their  crops  — just  before  they  are  ready  for  harvest. 
I  have  had  almost  all  the  pears  from  exposed 
Anjous  tumbled  to  the  ground  and  rendered  unfit 
for  storage.  It  is  a  sad  sight  to  one  who  has 
watched  such  a  magnificent  fruit  develop  all  sum- 
mer, to  find  his  Christmas  pears  snatched  away 
from  him,  and  flung,  worthless,  upon  the  ground. 
As  a  supplement  to  windbreaks  of  pears,  I  suggest 
spreading  a  good  litter  of  soft  grass  or  hay  under 
the  trees  during  the  autumn  months. 

[117] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

Hedges  are  low  windbreaks;  windbreaks  are 
high  hedges.  Hedges  along  the  street,  or  else- 
where, as  fences,  I  do  not  admire  or  recommend. 
Fifty  years  ago  there  was  a  great  wave  of  hedge 
planting.  Everybody  must  have  a  hedge  of  osage 
orange;  then  the  thorn  trees  came  into  popularity, 
and  then  the  willow,  and  the  locust.  Now  there 
is  hardly  a  good  osage-orange  hedge  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  very  few  left  in  the  Western  States. 
Those  that  remain  are  ferocious  and  unmanageable. 
It  is  a  serious  task  to  undertake  to  trim  an  osage- 
orange  hedge;  and  it  is  a  more  serious  job  to  root 
out  one  that  has  got  beyond  trimming.  The  wil- 
low proved  a  fallacious  fraud,  and  the  hawthorn,  so 
beautiful  in  England,  suffers  in  the  United  States 
from  our  hot  summers,  and  from  the  woolly  aphis. 
The  honey  locust  or  gleditschia  proved  to  be  much 
better  for  hedging;  and  there  are  still  scattered 
about  the  country  many  fairly  good  hedges  of  this 
plant.  It  is  very  handsome  in  foliage,  but  it  is  liable 
to  be  gnawed  by  mice  in  the  winter  and  not  seldom 
girdled.  The  thorns  are  very  objectionable,  and 
when  they  fall  into  the  grass  become  dangerous. 
It  is  not  safe  to  leave  the  trimmings  in  the  pasture, 
or  allow  them  to  get  into  the  hay  from  the  meadow. 

[118] 


WINDBREAKS   AND   HEDGES 


But  the  very  best  deciduous  hedge-fence  has 
proved  to  be  the  buckthorn,  or  blackthorn.  This 
plant  is  adaptable  to  shearing,  and  can  easily  be 
kept  in  bounds.  It  is  ornamental,  and  if  it  gets  too 
high,  it  can  be  cut  down  to  the  ground  and  started 
afresh  —  which  you  cannot  do  with  an  evergreen. 
If  a  fence  is  absolutely  required,  use  wire  or  stone 
by  preference;  but  for  a  hedge  fence,  use  either 
buckthorn  or  gleditschia.  There  is  a  variety  or 
spore  of  the  latter,  without  thorns.  If  this  can  be 
secured  in  quantity,  the  hedge  will  be  quite  as  solid 
and  fully  as  protective  as  if  made  of  the  thorny 
sort. 

Beech  and  apple  hedges  will  turn  animals,  but 
will  be  more  or  less  eaten  by  them.  This  does  not 
affect  their  value,  but  in  the  long  run  the  growth  is 
made  more  dense.  In  the  West  and  Southwest 
the  cockspur  thorn  is  used  very  commonly  and  ef- 
fectually for  strong  hedges.  I  have  seen  such 
hedges  grown  over  with  wild  grape  vines;  and  in 
other  places  dewberries  were  loading  them  with 
fruit. 

While  I  would  almost  abandon  hedge-fences, 
I  would  wish  to  see  a  greatly  increased  use  of 
hedges  for  ornament,  for  shelters,  for  nooks,  and  for 

[119] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 

bordering  drives.  For  screens  they  should  be  used 
with  great  freedom.  They  break  up  extensive 
plots,  forming  pleasant  retreats,  diversifying  the 
grounds,  creating  shady  places  for  seats  and  ham- 
mocks, and  hiding  clothes-lines,  hot  beds,  and 
compost  piles.  However,  avoid  the  petty;  be  sure 
you  do  not  cut  up  your  lawns  into  meaningless  bits. 
One  purpose  of  ornamental  hedges  is  to  make  a 
large  display  of  some  eminently  beautiful  shrub, 
such  as  lilac,  or  hydrangea  paniculata  grandiflora, 
or  Japanese  quince,  or  Tartarian  honeysuckle.  I 
never  saw  a  farm  that  did  not  have  some  place 
which  a  hedge  of  Tartarian  honeysuckle  would  not 
glorify,  and  at  the  same  time  be  itself  an  object  of 
conspicuous  beauty.  Some  of  our  shrubs  we  can 
hardly  have  in  excess  if  planted  separately;  as 
hedges  they  can  be  multiplied  even  more  freely.  1 
have  seen  the  Judas  tree  in  April  stretching  out  its 
long  lines  of  rich,  lilac-hued  flowers  along  the  rear 
of  a  garden;  in  another  direction,  a  little  later,  Per- 
sian lilacs  flaming  all  across  a  mound ;  while,  alter- 
nating with  these,  altheas  would  glorify  the  same 
mound  with  superb  flowers  in  August  and  Sep- 
tember. "It  is  the  finest  thing  I  ever  saw,"  said 
my  friend;  and  the  hired  man  held  his  hoe  for  a 

[120] 


six]  windbreaks   and   HEDGES 


moment,  and  said,  "Sir,  it  honors  the  world."  A 
lilac  hedge  should  consist  of  trees  six  or  eight  feet 
apart.  The  suckers  should  be  kept  out  very  clean- 
ly, or  you  will  get  few  flowers  and  many  stems. 
The  barberry  should  front  evergreens,  to  bring  out 
the  fine  scarlet  of  its  berries;  as  a  hedge  it  is  likely 
to  multiply  deadwood,  and  for  that  reason  must 
be  carefully  trimmed  twice  a  year.  Set  your  hy- 
drangeas paniculata  at  least  eight  or  ten  feet  apart, 
with  weigelas  alternating.  The  object,  in  all  cases, 
is  to  secure  a  profusion  of  bloom  through  the  early 
months,  followed  by  as  abundant  flowers  in  the 
autumn.  For  instance,  your  lilacs  blossom  in  May 
and  June,  while  your  altheas  begin  in  August  and 
continue  till  October. 

The  time  for  planting  evergreens  is  the  same  as 
that  for  deciduous  trees.  The  notion  that  it  was 
advisable  to  plant  in  August  has  been  entirely 
dropped.  Set  your  trees  early  in  April,  and  plant 
precisely  as  you  would  deciduous  trees  —  only  with 
more  precaution.  Before  digging  your  trees  the 
trenches  should  have  been  already  dug.  Make 
these  about  three  feet  wide,  and  at  least  two  in 
depth.  Fill  the  bottom  with  loose  earth,  not  too 
rich,   and  yet  not  solid  clay.     Saturate  this  dirt 

[121] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chaptek 


with  water;  and  when  you  have  obtained  your 
trees,  wet  the  roots  constantly  as  each  one  is  set  in 
its  place.  We  call  it  puddling  the  roots,  because 
we  pour  the  water  in  until  the  ground  is  soaked. 
In  digging  and  carrying  evergreens,  be  sure  that 
the  roots  are  never  exposed  to  the  sun  or  the  wind. 
As  soon  as  out  of  the  ground,  wrap  them  with  wet 
matting  or  with  wet  straw.  If  not  planted  as  soon 
as  dug,  puddle  the  roots  in  a  pond  or  brook.  When 
you  plant,  draw  out  only  one  at  a  time.  Evergreens, 
however,  do  not  like  to  stand  in  wet  soil  —  that  is, 
most  of  them  do  not.  The  hemlock  will  grow  in  a 
swamp,  but  does  much  better  on  well-drained,  high 
land.  As  soon  as  your  windbreak  or  hedge  is 
planted,  mulch  it.  Use  either  coal  ashes  or  saw- 
dust. Always  bear  in  mind  that  barnyard  manure 
must  not  come  near  the  roots  of  fruit  trees  or  ever- 
greens—  or,  for  that  matter,  anything  that  you 
plant  on  your  lawns.  A  top  dressing  of  thoroughly 
decomposed  manure  will  do  no  harm,  but  is  not 
advisable.  As  soon  as  your  tree  is  set,  or  sooner, 
if  more  convenient,  cut  back  very  sharply.  Bring 
all  the  plants  into  shapeliness — removing  from  one- 
third  to  two-thirds  of  the  wood.  Your  hedge  will 
not  be  beautiful  till  after  several  years  of  careful 

[122] 


SIX]  WINDBREAKS   AND   HEDGES 


trimming.  If  you  will  follow  these  hints  carefully, 
you  will  hardly  ever  lose  an  evergreen  bush  or  tree. 

Deciduous  hedges  need  to  be  trimmed  twice  a 
year,  first  in  April  or  May,  and  again  in  July  or 
August.  Cut,  each  time,  as  close  as  you  can  to  the 
old  wood,  for  the  hedge  will  gradually  gain  in  diam- 
eter in  spite  of  trimming.  One  inch  each  year 
makes  in  ten  years  twenty  inches  more  of  spread; 
and  if  carelessly  you  leave  three  inches,  your  hedge 
will  have  widened,  in  the  same  space  of  time,  sixty 
inches,  or  five  feet.  So  you  see  there  is  danger  that 
you  will  make  a  nuisance  instead  of  an  ornament. 
Evergreen  hedges  must,  however,  on  no  account  be 
cut  but  once  a  year,  and  that  once  must  be  in 
March  or  April  —  just  before  the  new  growth.  More 
harm  is  done  to  fine  evergreen  hedges  by  cutting 
them  in  the  summer  and  autumn,  than  by  all  other 
causes  combined.  Again  and  again  people  ask. 
What  is  the  matter  with  my  arbor-vitse  hedge,  or 
my  hemlock.^  Inquiry  shows  that  they  have 
pruned  in  the  summer,  thus  cutting  away  the  new 
growth,  which  nature  was  preparing  for  winter 
protection. 

A  hedge  is  ornamental,  not  only  from  the  amount 
of  shearing  it  gets,  but  sometimes  from  a  modicum 

[K3] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chaptek 


of  neglect.  Most  of  our  blossoming  shrubs  have 
an  individuality  of  their  own,  and  this  must  not  be 
stripped  away  by  the  shears.  To  trim  them  all  in 
straight  lines  would  ruin  the  meaning  of  the  plant. 
If  you  want  a  shrub  that  will  stand  either  neglect 
or  shearing,  take  Tartarian  honeysuckle.  Always 
mulch  your  hedges  as  soon  as  planted,  and  renew 
this  mulch  every  year  till  the  plants  are  thoroughly 
established.  A  convenient  and  excellent  material 
is  ashes  from  anthracite  coal  —  that  from  bitumin- 
ous coal  contains  too  much  sulphur  to  be  used 
freely. 

Hedge  growers,  while  learning  to  abhor  the  mon- 
strous and  misplaced,  may  make  hedge-growing 
contribute  to  the  general  beauty  of  a  place  by  such 
contrivances  as  living  arbors,  bowered  seats,  and 
arched  walks.  One  of  my  living  arbors,  slightly 
dissociated  from  the  hedge  row,  lifts  its  peak  about 
twenty-five  feet  high,  and  inside  is  a  cool,  shaded 
inclosure  of  eighteen  feet  in  diameter.  Origin- 
ally intended  to  be  a  place  to  conceal  refuse,  I  have 
found  it  more  useful  as  a  retreat.  With  seats  and  a 
hammock  it  is  delightful  in  the  hottest  days.  The 
roots  of  the  arbor-vitse  create  a  dry  mat  inside,  like 
the  floor  of  evergreen  woods.     If  left  to  arch  over 

[124] 


SIX]  WINDBREAKS   AND   HEDGES 


a  sidewalk,  your  hedges  may  easily  give  a  cool, 
arbor-like  pathway.  One  of  my  own  leads  to  an 
inclosure,  where  is  found  a  well,  useful  for  water- 
ing the  lawn.  Over  the  well  is  trained  an  arbor  of 
grapes.  Hedges  for  screens  are  of  great  impor- 
tance. This  is  not  only  to  cover  the  disagreeable, 
but  to  secure  quiet  nooks  and  inclosures  for  wells, 
hotbeds,  and  reservoirs.  These,  although  not  un- 
pleasant suffixes  of  a  home,  cannot  be  made  to 
blend  pleasantly  into  general  lawn  work. 


[125] 


CHAPTER    SEVEN 
OUT   IN   THE   ORCHARD 


If  I  have  not  said  that  something  else  is  the  most 
beautiful  thing  in  the  world,  I  will  here  say  that  the 
uttermost  development  of  physical  beauty  is  an 
apple  orchard,  in  full  bloom  —  unless  possibly  it  be 
the  same  orchard  when  the  apples  are  crimson,  and 
bend  the  limbs  down  to  ask  you  to  share  the  feast. 
I  remember  a  gray-haired  mother,  whom  we  led 
gently  to  her  chair  under  the  snow-white  blooms 
that  fell  noiselessly  to  match  themselves  with  her 
snow-white  hair.  All  the  painters  of  the  Renais- 
sance never  painted  a  picture  like  that.  It  is  a 
possible  everyday  picture,  where  an  honest  man 
wills  to  create  a  true  home  in  the  country.  So  you 
see  I  shall  not  ask  you  out  into  the  orchard,  just 
that  you  may  know  the  commercial  value  of  one 
hundred  apple  trees,  spaced  in  rows.  Going  into 
the  country  you  will  need  about  twenty  apple  trees, 
ten  pear  trees,  ten  plum  trees,  and  as  many  cherry 


OUT   IN    THE   ORCHARD 

trees  —  to  begin  with.  You  will  find  out,  in  due 
time,  how  many  more  to  plant.  These,  at  least,  are 
necessary  to  make  country  life  wholesome  and  com- 
fortable. The  list  should  be  made  out  to  extend 
over  the  longest  possible  season. 

Of  the  cherries,  the  sour  varieties  are  most  im- 
portant, and  will  drop  easily  into  this  succession: 
Early  Richmond,  English  Morello,  Montmorency. 
But  the  length  of  the  season  is  very  likely  to  be  dic- 
tated by  your  robins,  orioles,  and  catbirds.  A 
really  first-class  bird  is  a  good  judge  of  good  cher- 
ries, and  so  ardent  an  admirer  of  the  fruit  that  you 
will  have  to  discuss  ownership.  In  the  first  place, 
you  must  plant  two  or  three  times  as  many  trees  as 
will  supply  your  own  table  —  in  this  way  counting 
in  the  birds.  Even  then  there  may  not  be  enough. 
Where  your  neighbors  are  not  also  growing  cher- 
ries, robins  will  come  to  you  by  the  hundred,  and 
strip  your  trees.  I  shall  have  something  more  to 
say  about  this  in  another  chapter,  and  shall  more 
fully  describe  the  remedy.  What  I  wish  to  say 
here  is  that  cherry  trees  occupy  very  little  ground, 
that  they  make  good  windbreaks,  and  will  grow 
and  bear  heavy  crops,  when  planted  in  very  close 
array  along  fence  lines.     Encourage  your  neigh- 

[127] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


bors  to  plant,  and  in  time  you  will  find  that  the 
birds  are  so  distributed  as  not  to  make  a  very 
serious  factor  in  cherry  consumption. 

The  old  English  Morello  can  be  obtained  almost 
anywhere  on  its  own  roots.  It  should  be  planted 
when  quite  small,  as  it  begins  to  bear  when  two  or 
three  years  old,  and  at  five  years  is  a  heavy  cropper. 
Gradually  thin  out  the  top,  and  slightly  raise  the 
limbs,  until  the  tree  is  twelve  or  more  feet  in  di- 
ameter. I  have  picked  sixty  quarts  from  a  well 
grown  tree.  Sold  at  ten  cents  a  quart,  this  is  six 
dollars  for  a  very  small  space  of  ground  —  eaten,  it 
is  lots  of  comfort  for  the  same  space.  Cherry  pie 
and  cherry  rolls  have  been  unanimously  voted  good 
enough  for  the  folk  at  home.  When  protected 
from  the  birds,  as  I  shall  describe  elsewhere,  and 
thoroughly  ripened,  the  so-called  sour  cherry  is 
nearly  sweet,  and  the  mild  acid  is  very  wholesome. 

The  May  Duke  is  one  of  the  finest  trees,  and  one 
of  the  noblest  cherries  on  the  list.  It  is  as  good 
for  the  table  as  for  the  kitchen.  It  is  not  quite  as 
hardy  to  resist  frost  as  the  Morello  type,  but  gener- 
ally comes  through  all  right,  as  far  north  as  central 
New  York  and  Boston.  The  Dyehouse  is  even 
earlier  than  the  Richmond,  and  is  a  sure  cropper 

[128] 


seven]  out   in    the    orchard 


very  far  north,  but  the  quaHty  is  only  second  rate. 
I  have  planted  several  of  the  Russian  importations, 
but  have  found  none  to  equal  those  I  have  named. 
A  new  claimant  for  favor  is  The  Baldwin,  said  to 
be  marked  for  hardiness,  earliness,  and  produc- 
tiveness, while  it  is  of  the  very  highest  quality.  This 
new  variety  will  probably  be  of  more  advantage  on 
account  of  its  upright  growth,  almost  like  the  May 
Duke.  The  Montmorency  is  already  known  under 
half  a  dozen  varieties  —  all  large  and  late,  and  ex- 
ceedingly valuable  for  dessert  purposes.  The  best 
variety  is  the  Stark  Montmorency,  a  selection  made 
by  Stark  Brothers  of  Missouri;  probably  a  seed- 
ling. Seedlings  of  Montmorency  are  easily  pro- 
duced; and  we  may  at  any  time  find  among  them 
a  decided  improvement. 

Of  sweet  cherries  I  prefer  for  general  culture 
Gov.  Wood.  It  is  very  hardy,  a  superb  cherry  for 
the  table,  and  very  prolific.  I  never  fail  to  get 
fruit  of  Gov.  Wood,  when  Black  Tartarian  and  the 
Bigarreaus  fail  me.  After  this  variety,  select  Dike- 
man  for  a  cold  region  —  a  cherry  that  originated  in 
northern  Michigan.  The  fruit  is  large,  black, 
firm,  and  of  excellent  quality.  It  is  very  late  to 
come   into   ripening.     Reine   Hortense   is   a  very 

[  129  ] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


satisfactory  variety,  and  growing  in  favor.  It  is  a 
very  bright  red  fruit,  and  the  tree  is  unusually  stout. 
Rockport  and  Napoleon  are  the  best  Bigarreaus. 
Windsor  is  a  grand,  new  variety,  ripening  late  in 
July.  The  fruit  is  plum  color,  and  the  quality  is 
excellent.  With  me  it  has  come  into  bearing  late, 
and  its  fruit  buds  do  not  prove  to  be  as  hardy  as 
Gov.  Wood.  I  have  not  yet  fruited  Allen,  but  am 
told  by  good  judges  that  it  is  deserving  of  most 
universal  culture.  The  size  of  the  fruit  is  large 
and  heart-shaped ;  and  both  the  fruit  buds  and  the 
tree  are  very  hardy.  For  cold  climate,  in  addition 
to  Dikeman,  Allen  and  Gov.  Wood,  I  would  con- 
fine myself  to  the  sour  varieties. 

Cherry  trees  should  be  planted  either  as  I  have 
suggested  for  windbreaks  or  for  avenue  trees,  or 
may  be  set  alternately  with  apple  trees  and  pear 
trees.  If  so  set,  after  the  apple  trees  have  grown  a 
dozen  years  they  will  have  reached  out  to  need  the 
space.  By  that  time  the  cherries  will  have  done 
their  best  work,  and  you  will  probably  have  planted 
more  elsewhere,  so  that  they  can  be  removed. 
When  you  do  remove  them,  dig  them  out,  instead 
of  cutting  them  off  at  the  ground. 

The  list  of  plums  is  being  so  greatly  extended  by 

[130] 


seven]  out   in   the   orchard 


improved  native  sorts,  and  by  crossbreds,  that  it 
taxes  me  to  reduce  the  list  of  really  fine  varieties  to 
a  size  suitable  for  a  modest  country  home.  Of  the 
older  plums  Green  Gage  still  stands  foremost  for 
quality.  Among  all  our  fruits  I  do  not  know  an- 
other one  that  so  concentrates  richness  in  a  case- 
ment of  beauty  as  this  old  Green  Gage  plum.  It 
should  be  grown  on  high,  open  sunny  spots,  and 
never  in  wet  and  shady  places.  It  is  a  long-lived 
tree,  giving  annual  loads  of  fruit.  With  it  plant 
that  magnificent  plum,  the  Magnum  Bonum,  pro- 
vided you  have  near  it  some  of  the  very  early- 
blooming  varieties,  like  Abundance,  to  pollenize 
its  flowers.  Unfortunately,  if  grown  alone  it  is 
liable  to  bear  only  scattered  fruit.  Well-pollen- 
ized  by  a  neighbor,  it  will  be  loaded  so  as  to  need 
thinning  and  supporting.  I  sold  from  a  single  tree 
in  a  single  year  plums  to  the  value  of  eighteen  dol- 
lars. Coe's  Golden  Drop  is  another  indispensable: 
and  Shropshire  Damson  is  a  very  valuable  variety 
for  cooking  and  canning. 

Of  newer  sorts,  Victoria  is  one  of  the  surest  and 
noblest,  bearing  great,  red  plums  of  good  quality, 
and  in  profusion.  Pond  is  another  large  and  hand- 
some   plum    that  bears  enormous  crops;  quality 

[131] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


only  moderate.  Bradshaw  is  very  early,  large, 
prolific,  and  valuable  for  home  purposes.  Two 
fine  late  sorts  are  Reine  Claude,  and  Grand  Duke, 
the  first  much  like  a  large  Green  Gage,  and  the  lat- 
ter a  very  large  purple  plum,  of  good  quality. 
Monarch  is  a  noble  plum  every  way  —  in  quality, 
size  and  cropping;  I  hardly  think  you  should  under- 
take to  get  along  without  it.  Of  yellow  plums,  by 
all  odds  the  finest  that  I  have  seen  is  Peter's  Yellow 
Gage,  while  the  common  Yellow  Gage  is  an  infe- 
rior variety  —  although  large  and  productive. 

Of  the  newer  productions  from  cross-breeding, 
we  have  Burbank  —  a  straggling  grower,  but  load- 
ed with  beautiful  golden  plums  touched  with  scar- 
let. However  full  the  limbs  may  be  loaded,  the 
fruit  never  rots  on  the  tree.  Red  June  is  a  hand- 
some, very  early,  purple  plum,  of  excellent  quality. 
Wickson  is  a  noble  plum  every  way,  except  that  the 
tree  grows  very  upright  and  compact,  so  as  to  seri- 
ously interfere  with  the  production  of  choice  fruit 
—  unless  the  top  is  kept  open  by  annual  trimming. 
But  now  I  am  entering  that  enchanted  land  where 
Mr.  Burbank,  "The  Wizard,"  is  working;  and 
just  to  name  his  new  varieties  would  fill  a  page. 
Of  the  best  are  Gold,   Gonzales,  Chabot,  Shiro, 

[132] 


SEVEN]  OUT   IN   THE   ORCHARD 


Sultan,  Apple,  Matthews,  Climax,  America,  Hale, 
and  Bartlett.  I  am  not  sure  that  every  one  of  these 
is  due  to  Mr.  Burbank ;  but  it  will  not  give  him  un- 
due honor  if  we  attribute  to  his  skill  a  few  origin- 
ated elsewhere.  His  farm  of  thousands  of  acres,  at 
Santa  Rosa,  California,  is  the  greatest  experiment 
station  in  the  world.  There,  as  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden,  he  creates  new  fruits,  and  new  flowers,  and 
new  vegetables,  about  as  fast  as  the  rest  of  us  can 
name  them. 

Of  our  native  sorts  of  plums  a  few  enthusiasts 
already  have  collections  of  at  least  two  hundred 
and  fifty  or  more  varieties.  The  collections  are  so 
very  large  that  it  is  difl5cult  for  any  one  at  present 
to  speak  with  authority  as  to  what  half-dozen  are 
best  for  planting.  I  think  that  among  the  best  for 
a  quiet  garden  are  Hawkeye,  Weaver,  and  Wyant. 
Yet  when  you  are  altogether  through  with  your 
study  of  plums,  there  is  one  sort  still  to  be  named 
that  in  almost  all  sections  of  the  United  States  de- 
serves to  head  the  plum  list  for  common  people; 
I  mean  the  Bleecker,  or  Lombard.  It  is  a  tree  that 
grows  so  easily,  and  bears  so  profusely,  while  the 
fruit  is  of  such  splendid  canning  quality,  that  it  is 
the  plum  for  the  four  corners  of  the  United  States. 

[133] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


The  tree  does  not  grow  so  shapely  as  some,  and  if 
left  alone,  sends  up  innumerable  suckers.  On  this 
account  you  will  find  that  the  Bleecker  is  short-lived, 
and  needs  very  frequent  replanting.  However, 
you  can  get  so  many  small  trees  for  your  replant- 
ing that  it  will  cause  you  little  trouble  to  always 
have  enough  Bleecker  trees,  while  the  small  trees 
will  begin  to  bear  at  three  years  of  age.  The  mar- 
ket call  for  plums  is  first  for  Bleeckers,  and  after 
that  for  Shropshire  Damson  and  Green  Gage.  The 
plum  is,  par  excellence,  the  fruit  for  preserves,  for 
jam,  for  puddings;  and  no  country  home  can  com- 
fortably begin  its  career  without  a  few  plum  trees. 
Meanwhile,  you  cannot  afford  to  wholly  overlook 
the  prunes  —  which  are  only  a  sort  of  plum.  Among 
the  best  sorts  are  Fellenberg,  Sugar,  Pacific,  and 
Giant  —  say  one  of  each. 

A  select  list  of  pears,  affording  a  good  succession 
from  July  to  April,  would  be,  for  early  summer, 
Margaret,  Tyson,  Clapp's  Favorite,  Bartlett;  for 
autumn,  Flemish  Beauty,  Onondaga,  Seckel,  Shel- 
don; for  early  winter,  Anjou,  Danas  Hovey,  Law- 
rence, Nelis ;  for  later  winter  use  —  to  be  kept  like 
winter  apples  —  Josephine,  Patrick  Barry,  Col.  Wil- 
der, and  Oliver  DeSerres.      There  are  so  many 

fl34] 


SEVEN]  OUT   IN   THE   ORCHARD 


more  really  valuable  pears  that  the  list  will  be  sure 
to  leave  out  some  one's  favorite;  and  I  shall  not  un- 
dertake to  name  many  really  excellent  pears  for 
localities.  My  only  object  is  to  give  you  a  good  list, 
covering  the  full  season.  Flemish  Beauty,  un- 
fortunately, can  no  longer  be  grown,  unless  sprayed 
very  early  and  repeatedly  with  Bordeaux  Mix- 
ture; and  even  then  it  must  stand  on  high  and 
open  ground.  It  cracks  and  blights,  but  is  the 
most  delicious  dessert  pear  in  the  world  —  besides 
being  a  superb  variety  for  canning.  All  in  all,  for 
first  rank  as  a  table  pear,  except  for  color,  the  Shel- 
don is  the  king.  The  Seckel  is  ideal  in  flavor,  but 
is  too  small  to  be  grown  for  market.  Tyson  is 
slow  to  come  into  bearing,  but  is  one  of  the  most  de- 
licious early  sorts.  Clapp's  Favorite  must  be  picked 
ten  days  before  it  is  soft,  and  matured  in  a  dark 
storeroom  or  cellar  —  then  it  keeps  admirably,  and 
is  of  superb  flavor  —  otherwise  it  will  rot  at  the  core, 
and  has  no  flavor  to  deserve  attention.  Onondaga 
is  one  of  the  best  stand-bys  for  immense  crops  of 
large,  clean  pears  that  I  have  ever  grown.  I  like 
it  more  and  more  each  year.  The  tree  is  very 
tough  and  hardy.  The  fruit,  when  well  ripened, 
is  fine  for  eating,  and  is  always  splendid  for  can- 

[135] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


ning  or  pickling  or  preserving.  Lawrence  is  a 
delicately  sweet,  medium-sized  pear,  of  a  clean, 
bright  yellow,  and  is  ripe  in  December.  It  is  pref- 
erable to  grow  this  sort  grafted  high  in  old  trees. 
Anjou  is  another  prince  of  pears,  when  we  con- 
sider its  keeping  qualities,  its  high  flavor,  its  rich 
color,  and  the  ideal  form  and  growth  and  health  of 
trees.  Picked  in  October,  it  will  keep  until  Janu- 
ary, and  be  in  prime  condition  for  the  holidays. 
Josephine  is  a  medium-sized  pear,  and  might  be 
taken  for  a  small  Anjou;  it  is  in  prime  eating  in 
April.  Patrick  Barry  is  said  to  be  the  best  of  the 
winter  pears  for  very  late  use,  but  I  have  not  yet 
fruited  it.  You  will  see  the  charm  of  having  a  bin 
of  winter  pears  that  will  keep  as  nicely  as  winter 
apples.  If  you  grow  but  one  or  two  sorts,  I  should 
select  Anjou  for  early,  and  Josephine  for  late. 

I  do  not  wonder  that  such  men  as  Wilder  and 
Downing  became  pear  enthusiasts.  It  is  a  noble 
fruit,  and  every  year  we  are  able  still  to  produce 
improvements.  Among  the  best  of  the  newer  sorts 
are  Koonce  for  very  early;  Fame,  Alamo,  King 
Carl,  Ozark,  Triumph,  originating  in  the  midwest; 
and  Rosney,  Vermont  Beauty,  and  Worden's  Seckel 
of  Eastern  origin.     On  your  ten  or  twenty  acres 

[136] 


seven]  out   in   the    orchard 


you  have  no  room  for  second-class  fruits,  even  if 
they  will  sell;  for  as  sure  as  human  progress,  in- 
ferior stuff  will,  after  a  while,  stop  selling.  For 
this  reason  I  say  plant  no  Garber  or  Kieffer.  Picked 
very  early,  and  handled  with  great  care,  Kieffer 
is  sometimes  tolerably  good  —  generally  it  is  unfit 
for  table  use.  I  hesitate  to  say  that  a  pear  should 
be  handled  with  more  care  than  an  apple,  for  I 
hold  that  an  apple  should  be  so  picked  and  stored 
that  not  one  cell  be  ruptured.  The  pear,  however, 
must  be  handled  with  the  utmost  caution,  or  it  will 
be  very  quick  to  decay.  The  profit  in  pear  grow- 
ing for  market  lies  wholly  in  sympathetic  treat- 
ment. 

The  pear  tree  must  be  planted  without  manure, 
in  clean  soil;  must  be  kept  free  from  suckers; 
mulched  with  coal  ashes,  or  some  other  clean  ma- 
terial, and  washed  often  with  kerosene  emulsion. 
You  must  be  sure  that  a  young  pear  tree  does  not 
get  checked  in  its  growth.  You  should  never 
plant  the  little  whip-stalks  that  are  sent  out  from 
some  nurseries;  they  will  in  ten  years'  time  not 
make  one  year's  growth.  Get  good,  stocky  trees, 
six  feet  high  or  more,  and  plant  as  I  have  directed. 
Keep  the  bark  clean,  and  the  roots  moist,  and 

[137] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


every  weak  shoot  cut  out.  The  pear  tree  is  har- 
dier than  the  apple,  and  needs  less  care  —  except 
to  see  that  it  does  not  get  choked  or  checked  in 
growth.  However  small  your  homestead  may  be, 
don't  try  to  get  along  with  less  than  three  or  four 
pear  trees.  Plant  them  near  the  house,  and  in  sod 
land;  but,  as  I  have  directed,  thoroughly  mulched, 
and  annually  forked  about.  When  you  have  be- 
come a  thoroughly  naturalized  countryman,  and 
possibly  a  market  gardener,  you  can  plant  your 
pears  in  rows  and  plow  among  them. 

For  a  country  home  you  can  afford  to  plant 
peaches  quite  freely,  even  where  there  is  very  un- 
certain fruitage.  I  have  best  success  with  Car- 
man, a  noble  and  beautiful  very  early  peach;  fol- 
lowed by  Waddell,  one  of  the  best  in  the  whole  list; 
and  this  by  Champion,  a  nearly  white  freestone  of 
magnificent  quality.  Seedlings  of  early  Crawford 
are  very  likely  to  give  you  satisfaction,  and  old  trees 
of  Crosby  are  nearly  as  hardy  as  Green  Gage  plums. 
This  variety  needs  thinning  out  very  sharply,  to 
give  you  a  decent  feast.  Those  who  have  never  eaten 
peaches  right  off  the  trees  know  much  about 
them.  I  rarely  find  one  in  market  that  comes  near 
the  notch  of  that  juicy,  rich,  sweet,  absolutely  sat- 

[138] 


seven]  out   in   the   orchard 

isfying  fruit  that  I  used  to  pick  up  in  my  Michigan 
orchard.  So  here  in  New  York  1  keep  on  growing 
peach  trees,  because  sometimes  I  get  a  crop  —  gen- 
erally more  or  less  Waddells  and  Champions. 
Mountain  Rose  is  another  hardy  sort;  and  Admiral 
Dewey,  Holderbaum,  Kalamazoo,  Captain  Ede, 
Mamie  Ross,  will  endure  zero  weather,  and  are  all 
of  the  finest  quality.  In  a  climate  just  out  of  the 
peach  belt  give  no  room  whatever  to  late  varieties, 
for  they  will  not  perfect  themselves  before  freezing 
weather. 

The  quince  can  claim  a  place  with  your  orchard 
trees,  or  in  the  garden  of  currants  and  berries.  I 
have  them  growing  in  both  of  these  relations.  I 
like  a  quince  bush  also  near  the  house,  or  one  oc- 
casionally showing  its  golden  fruit  in  the  shrubbery. 
I  hold  it  to  be  indispensable,  in  October,  November, 
and  December,  to  have  a  dish  of  baked  quinces  on 
the  dinner  table.  It  is  the  perfection  of  table  lux- 
uries. Cut  open,  remove  the  core,  and  cover  with 
butter  and  sugar;  and  let  conversation  cease.  The 
old  orange  or  apple  quince  is  the  one  most  com- 
monly planted,  and  is  a  thoroughly  good  sort.  The 
pear-shaped  variety  is  a  trifle  later,  but  is  a  much 
better  keeper,    and   I   think  of  better   quality.    I 

[139] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

recommend  that  you  get  a  tree  or  two  of  this  variety, 
if  you  can  find  them.  Quinces  that  are  in  no  way 
cracked  or  bruised  can  be  stored  in  a  cold  cellar  and 
kept  until  February.  Among  the  sorts  highly  rec- 
ommended are  Meech  and  Champion.  Mr.  Bur- 
bank  has  recently  originated  a  sort  that  can  be 
eaten  out  of  the  hand.  He  has  named  it  the  Pine- 
apple. There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  quince  will, 
after  a  while,  be  so  improved  as  to  class  with  pear 
and  apple  as  a  dessert  fruit. 

Whether  you  are  creating  a  quiet  home  or  a  mar- 
ket garden,  you  will  want  to  possess  a  couple  of 
mulberries,  a  couple  of  persimmons,  and  two  or 
three  pawpaw  trees.  The  best  mulberry  is  the 
Abundance;  the  best  persimmon  you  will  have  to 
get  by  grafting ;  and  the  best  pawpaws  you  can  only 
secure  either  by  digging  them  from  the  river  bot- 
toms, or  by  buying  very  small  trees  of  one  or  two 
nurserymen,  who  have  admitted  them  to  their 
catalogues.  Unfortunately,  no  American  nursery- 
man has  yet  taken  up  very  seriously  the  improve- 
ment of  the  American  persimmon,  while  the  Japan- 
ese varieties  are  not  hardy  north  of  the  Ohio  River. 
We  ought  to  be  able  to  create  as  grand  fruits  as  the 
Japanese,  and  will,  in  due  time.     Mr.  Munson,  of 

[140  J 


seven]  out   in    the   orchard 

Dennison,  Texas,  has  a  variety  which  he  calls  the 
Honey  Persimmon,  and  describes  as  very  sweet 
and  rich.  It  will  be  worth  our  while  to  plant  this 
and  test  its  hardiness  in  the  North.  I  find  the  Mis- 
souri varieties,  grafted  into  native  stock,  are  all  en- 
tirely frost-proof  in  Central  New  York.  The  paw- 
paw will  grow  anywhere  in  our  gardens,  but  it  likes 
water,  and  if  the  season  is  dry  the  fruit  will  either 
drop  or  be  flavorless,  unless  the  trees  are  abun- 
dantly irrigated.  I  see  no  reason  why  this  delicious 
fruit,  a  sort  of  hardy  banana,  should  not  be  grown 
everywhere  in  our  gardens.  I  get  a  half  bushel 
each  year  from  a  tree  ten  feet  in  diameter  and  the 
same  in  height.  A  single  persimmon  on  my  lawn 
is  covered  with  two  or  three  bushels,  each  year,  of 
the  most  beautiful  golden  fruit. 

The  apricot  and  the  nectarine  are  two  fruits  not 
as  yet  generally  planted  in  the  North.  We  have, 
however,  varieties  of  apricots  that  are  entirely  hardy 
—  quite  as  hardy  as  the  plum,  but  not  so  sure  to  be 
fertile.  The  Superb,  a  Kansas  seedling,  is  just  now 
the  favorite.  It  is  a  high-flavored,  handsome  and 
prolific  variety;  but  where  the  climate  is  mild,  per- 
haps the  Harris  or  Moorpark  should  be  preferred. 
Of  the  nectarines  I  believe  that  the  Boston  and  the 

[141] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


Downton  and  the  Pitmaston  are  as  good  as  can 
be  procured.  The  trees  need  about  the  same  cul- 
ture and  the  same  soil  as  the  plum. 

But  having  surrounded  ourselves  with  this  great 
Rosacese  family,  and  become  well  acquainted  with 
its  members,  and  having  made  a  loving  alliance 
with  them  all,  we  shall  agree  that  the  princeliest 
member  of  the  family  is  the  apple.  Life  would  be 
a  very  different  thing  if  we  were  to  be  deprived  of 
this  noble  fruit.  It  is  getting  to  be  one  of  our  chief 
exports,  as  well  as  more  a  part  of  home  dietary. 
One  of  our  ablest  medical  writers  says,  "  Life  can  be 
prolonged  more  easily  by  eliminating  a  large  share 
of  meats,  and  using  much  more  freely  fruits  —  but 
above  all  by  a  daily  use  of  the  apple.  Ripe  apples 
should  be  eaten  twice  a  day,  and  before  meals." 

I  am  going  to  make  for  you  three  lists  of  apples 
which  I  can  commend.  The  first  list  will  include 
twenty  sorts,  for  a  place  of  twenty  or  more  acres; 
then  a  list  of  twelve  for  a  smaller  homestead;  and, 
finally,  a  list  of  six  for  a  half  acre  or  acre.  Begin- 
ning with  summer,  I  should  select  Red  Astrachan, 
Yellow  Transparent,  Summer  Strawberry  and  Pri- 
mate. Add  to  these  Sweet  Bough,  provided  the 
orchard  stands  very  open;  but  in  close  orchards 

[  1-12  ] 


seven]  out   in   the   orchard 

this  variety  will  be  worthless.  For  autumn  select 
Gravenstein,  Porter  (grafted  high),  Fameuse  and 
Shiawassie  Beauty.  For  delicious  dessert  fruit, 
add  President  for  October,  Princess  Louise  and 
Walter  Pease  for  October  and  November  —  pos- 
sibly all  grafted  on  one  tree.  The  Scott  is  one  of 
the  finest  for  December  and  January. 

My  selection  for  winter  apples  would  be  Bald- 
win, Spitzenburg,  York  Imperial,  Hubbardston, 
Mother,  Mcintosh,  Northern  Spy,  Rhode  Island 
Greening,  Sutton,  and  Pound  Sweet.  Where  the 
King  apple  will  thrive,  and  do  its  best,  it  is  cer- 
tainly the  most  beautiful  and  magnificent  of  fruits ; 
but  it  is  quite  autocratic,  and  will  not  grow  on  all 
soils.  It  should  be  grafted  high  on  old  trees.  There 
are  two  other  sorts  of  the  very  highest  quality, 
which  also  require  this  top-grafting  —  the  Spitzen- 
burg and  the  Swaar.  The  reason  for  this  is  that 
the  bark  of  all  these  varieties  is  liable  to  winter 
killing.  In  sandy  soil  the  Jonathan  and  Grimes 
Golden  are  unsurpassable,  both  in  beauty  and  qual- 
ity. In  the  Hudson  valley,  and  a  few  other  locali- 
ties, the  Newtown  Pippin  is  an  ideal,  keeping  until 
May,  alongside  the  Golden  Russet.  It  requires 
rich  soil,  lots  of  sunshine,  and  the  fruit  should  be 

[  143  ] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


sharply  thinned.  The  Baldwin  should  never  be 
grown  in  a  close  orchard ;  so  also  the  Pound  Sweet. 
Mcintosh,  Shiawassie  Beauty,  and  Princess  Louise 
and  Walter  Pease  are  all  seedlings  of  Fameuse  or 
Snow,  and  they  are  all  worthy  of  such  parentage. 
Of  the  sweet  apples  Tolman  is  fine  for  baking,  but 
it  is  no  longer  popular  in  market.  Pound  Sweet 
is  the  one  most  in  demand,  and  when  this  apple 
gets  the  sun  it  is  a  glorious  product.  If  grown  in 
the  shade  it  is  worse  than  worthless.  Although  a 
fall  apple,  it  can  be  picked  in  October  and  care- 
fully handled  so  as  to  keep  until  March. 

Now  for  a  closer  list  of  twelve  prime  sorts  —  just 
about  enough  for  home  use.  For  summer  you 
must  have  Astrachan,  followed  by  Gravenstein, 
and  then  Fameuse;  and  a  tree  divided  between 
Princess  Louise  and  President.  For  winter  you 
must  certainly  have,  for  early  use,  Mcintosh  and 
Hubbardston,  and  then  Baldwin,  and  Spitzen- 
burg,  and  Northern  Spy  —  the  last  being  the  ab- 
solutely indispensable  variety  anywhere  and  every- 
where. But  if  you  positively  must  be  satisfied 
with  five  or  six  trees,  take  these  for  succession: 
Astrachan,  Gravenstein,  Fameuse,  Pound  Sweet, 
Rhode  Island  Greening,  and  Spy.     It  is  a  good 

[144] 


SEVEN]  OUT   IN   THE   ORCHARD 


plan  on  a  very  small  home  plot  to  graft  two  sorts 
into  a  single  tree. 

There  are  other  varieties  that,  as  an  apple  en- 
thusiast, I  dislike  to  omit,  especially  some  of 
the  newer  sorts  that  are  being  originated  every 
year.  The  Yellow  Bellflower  is  number  one 
in  a  Michigan  list;  and  the  Roxbury  Russet  is  an- 
other great  apple  for  that  state,  and  for  some  other 
sections;  but  in  New  York  State  both  of  these  are 
so  badly  infested  with  codlin  moth  that  it  does  not 
pay  to  plant  them.  Sutton's  Beauty  is  probably 
destined  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  of  our  market 
apples  —  resembling  Baldwin.  Wagner  is  a  sort  of 
cross  between  Spy  and  Mother,  a  glorious  fruit; 
and  I  think  it  is  generally  a  successful  grower. 
Summer  Rose  is  of  very  excellent  quality,  and  a 
very  beautiful  summer  fruit,  but  it  is  too  small  to 
enter  into  a  short  list.  For  my  own  use  I  should 
surely  include  in  every  list  the  Summer  Strawberry, 
and  it  is  equally  fine  for  market. 

Every  one  in  the  country  needs  at  least  two  crab- 
apple  trees,  not  only  for  the  fruit,  but  for  the  beauty 
displayed  when  the  tree  is  in  full  blossom,  and  again 
when  the  fruit  is  ripe.  I  consider  a  well-shaped 
crab-apple  tree,  bursting  into  bloom  before  all  other 

[145] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 

apples,  to  be  as  ornamental  for  the  lawn  as  any  tree 
that  the  world  affords.  I  would  select  for  early 
varieties  Paul's  Imperial  and  Whitney,  and  for  late 
varieties  Dartmouth  and  Hyslop.  In  another 
chapter  I  have  something  to  say  about  the  use  of 
crab-apple  trees  for  windbreaks.  They  not  only 
serve  admirably  when  used  for  this  purpose,  but 
they  have  the  additional  value  of  furnishing  a  large 
amount  of  fruit  for  market  and  for  cider,  and  for  a 
much  favored  jelly. 

I  shall  venture  to  add  a  list  of  apples  for  a  strictly 
Northern  section,  beyond  the  apple  belt.  You  will 
be  safe  in  selecting  Tetofsky,  Wolf  River,  Pewau- 
kee,  Gideon,  Northwestern  Greening,  Yellow 
Transparent,  Wealthy,  Longfield,  Fameuse,  and 
Duchess  of  Oldenburg.  These  will  prove  to  be  in 
the  main  entirely  hardy  in  the  Dakotas,  Wyoming, 
and  Montana.  For  a  section  below  the  regular 
apple  belt,  a  good  list  may  be  made  out  as  follows : 
Yellow  Transparent,  Duchess  of  Oldenburg, 
Early  Joe,  Primate,  Golden  Sweet,  Early  Straw- 
berry, Fall  Wine,  Fall  Pippin,  Gravenstein,  Jacob's 
Sweet,  Jonathan,  Northern  Spy,  Porter,  Shiawassie 
Beauty,  Grimes  Golden,  White  Pippin,  Stark 
York  Imperial,   Stayman's  Winesap,  and  Mam- 

[146] 


seven]  out   in    the   orchard 


moth  Black  Twig.  To  this  list  are  being  added 
some  very  excellent  varieties,  originated  in  the 
Southwest.  You  will  observe  that  a  few  of  the 
varieties  named  thrive  from  the  extreme  North  to 
the  extreme  South. 

All  these  lists  do  not  include  some  of  the  grand- 
est apples  in  the  world,  partly  because  we  do  not 
yet  quite  understand  how  generally  some  of  them 
will  thrive,  and  again  we  do  know  that  some  apples 
are  very  local  in  their  attachment.  Among  the 
most  promising  new  varieties,  the  Delicious  and  the 
Senator  are  two  from  the  Ozark  Mountain  region. 
Wismer's  Dessert  is  a  new  Canada  apple  of  extra- 
ordinary beauty,  and  very  hardy.  The  tree  is  a 
good  grower,  and  I  suggest  that  you  do  not  over- 
look it.  Stuart's  Golden  is  a  medium-sized  apple 
—  delicious,  digestible,  and  a  long  keeper;  good  for 
eating  from  November  till  the  last  of  April.  The 
best  new  sweet  apple  that  I  have  recently  met  with 
is  Danchy's  Sweet;  and  a  close  second  is  Sconon- 
doah.  We  are  just  entering  the  apple  age,  and 
new  varieties  will  hereafter  multiply  with  great 
rapidity,  although  we  shall  probably  never  give 
up  a  few  of  the  older  sorts,  such  as  Spitzenburg, 
Baldwin,    Hubbardston,   and    Northern  Spy  —  a 

[147] 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


magnificent  quartette.  Our  children  will  eat  more 
apples,  and  they  will  hear  less  of  some  of  the  most 
destructive  diseases. 

The  soil  of  an  orchard  requires  to  be  strong;  and 
in  general  almost  all  sorts  thrive  best  in  clay  —  al- 
though there  are  exceptions.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered always  that  the  production  of  large  crops  of 
apples,  or  of  any  other  fruit,  is  a  heavy  draft  on  the 
fertility  of  the  soil;  and  unless  means  are  used  to 
replace  the  elements  that  are  withdrawn,  soil  ex- 
haustion will  follow.  That  sort  of  food  which  is 
needed  in  one  soil  will  not,  however,  be  suited  to 
all  others.  An  apple  orchard  can  be  renewed  in 
its  fertility  most  conveniently  by  plowing  under 
what  are  called  cover  crops  —  in  the  main  clovers, 
peas,  buckwheat,  and  cow  peas.  The  object  is 
not  only  to  give  direct  food  to  the  trees,  but  to  add 
to  the  humus  or  decaying  vegetable  matter.  Legu- 
minous plants,  including  the  clovers,  beans  and 
peas,  have  the  peculiar  ability  of  taking  nitrogen 
from  the  air,  and  for  this  reason  become  the 
very  best  of  crops  to  be  plowed  under  in  an  apple 
orchard. 

As  a  rule,  do  not  set  young  apple  trees  in  vacan- 
cies that  occur  in  an  old  orchard;  certainly  not 

[148] 


seven]  out   in    the    orchard 

while  the  old  roots  still  remain  and  are  decaying  in 
the  soil.  The  old  trees  have  in  all  probability  left 
the  soil  exhausted,  and  the  old  wood  while  decaying 
poisons  the  new.  This  is  less  true  of  plums  and 
cherries  than  of  apples  and  pears.  I  have  named 
a  few  apples  that  prefer  sandy  soil;  others  dislike 
limestone  soil.  Most  apple  trees  have  their  idio- 
syncrasies. In  Central  New  York  we  fail  to  get 
such  Jonathans  and  Grimes'  Goldens  as  are  grown 
in  Ohio  and  West  Virginia.  One  of  the  apples 
that  thrives  over  a  very  large  area  is  the  Northern 
Spy.  It  is  a  deliberate  tree,  slow  to  come  to  bear- 
ing, but  afterward  is  very  constant  and  prolific. 
In  all  cases  remember  that  fruit  trees  cannot 
effectually  serve  you  unless  you  serve  them.  They 
must  be  fed,  or  they  cannot  feed  you  in  turn.  Their 
office  is  to  take  the  elements  in  a  raw  state,  and 
work  them  over  into  delicious  food  for  human 
beings.  In  this  way  we  really  are  compatriots 
with  the  trees  in  our  orchards.  I  am  convinced 
that  the  very  best  plan  for  large  growers  of  apples 
is  to  pasture  the  orchard  with  sheep  or  with  hogs. 
These  will  destroy  all  the  defective  apples,  while 
they  keep  the  soil  enriched.  Where  the  methods 
suggested    above    are    inconvenient,    mulch   your 

[149] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

trees  with  a  strong  compost  made  of  barn  manure, 
ashes  and  Kme. 

Nearly  all  orchards  are  seriously  injured  by  lack 
of  foresight  in  planting.  The  trees  are  set  too  close 
together,  and  when  they  are  grown  their  limbs  not 
only  interfere,  but  shade  the  fruit,  so  that  it  is  rare- 
ly perfect  and  high-colored.  A  good  apple  cannot 
grow  in  the  shade.  It  must  be  made  of  sunshine 
and  fresh  air.  Many  of  the  enemies  of  the  apple 
work  only  in  the  shade,  especially  the  tripeta  fly. 
The  true  distance  for  planting  apple  trees  is  about 
thirty-five  feet  apart  —  better  forty,  with  plums 
and  cherries  intermediary. 

If  you  set  fruit  trees  in  the  fall,  it  must  be  only 
when  the  soil  is  dry  and  easily  workable.  After 
the  tree  is  set  it  should  be  staked  in,  and  firmly 
tied  with  very  coarse  twine  or  bast.  Leave  the 
dirt  somewhat  mounded,  so  that  the  water  cannot 
settle  about  the  tree  during  the  winter.  Pound 
down  the  dirt,  except  a  few  shovelfuls  which  may 
be  left  loose  on  the  top,  over  which  spread  the 
mulch.  Be  sure  not  to  wait  until  the  moisture  is 
dried  out  of  the  loose  top  soil,  but  apply  the  mulch 
at  once.  This  is  particularly  needful  when  plant- 
ing is  done  in  the  spring.     The  whole   difference 

[150] 


SEVEN]  OUT   IN   THE   ORCHARD 


between  success  and  failure  will  depend  upon  this 
one  point  of  retaining  moisture  about  the  roots. 

Trimming  is  the  next  all-important  matter. 
Trees  received  from  nurseries  are  seldom  pruned, 
unless  you  so  order.  Even  then  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  cut  away  branches  that  have  been  broken 
in  the  shipping.  Cut  off  all  small  and  feeble  twigs, 
close  up  to  the  bark.  Then  cut  back  the  stouter 
branches,  from  one-third  to  two-thirds.  On  each 
twig  leave  the  last  bud  pointing  in  the  direction 
you  wish  that  limb  to  grow  —  which  will,  of  course, 
be  outward  and  not  inward,  so  as  to  spread  the 
top  open  to  air  and  sunshine.  You  will  soon  get 
the  knack  of  shaping  a  tree-top.  Limbs  must  not 
lop  over  each  other,  nor  intertwine.  But  be  sure 
to  dig  out  all  suckers  that  have  started  about  the 
roots;  and  keep  these  out  at  all  times.  If  care- 
lessly removed,  twenty  will  come  in  the  place  of  the 
one  that  has  been  cut  away.  Remember  that  if 
suckers  are  allowed  to  grow  on  the  body  or  on  the 
limbs  of  trees,  they  take  the  vitality  from  the  bear- 
ing limbs;  and  in  a  few  years  these  will  become 
barren  —  then  brittle,  and  then  will  break  off.  The 
tree  becomes  a  mass  of  useless  rubbish,  incapable 
of  renovation.     A  beautiful  apple  or  other  fruit 

[151] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


tree,  neatly  trimmed  and  never  neglected,  is  a 
sight  the  owner  may  be  proud  of;  but  an  orchard 
of  any  sort  left  to  shift  for  itself  is  a  disgrace. 

I  have  spoken  of  shaping  fruit  trees;  you  must 
not,  however,  be  fooled  by  pictures  of  ideal  trees. 
The  fact  is  that  no  two  varieties  of  pear  trees  have 
the  same  ideal ;  and  no  two  varieties  of  apples  form 
exactly  the  same  shaped  head.  A  Seckel  pear  is 
ideal  when  the  head  is  nearly  round;  an  Anjou  is 
ideal  when  very  nearly  a  pyramid;  and  a  Buff  am 
has  for  its  ideal  a  column  much  like  a  Lombardy 
poplar.  You  must  study  varieties,  and  adjust 
your  trimming  to  each  sort.  A  Spitzenburg  apple 
droops  its  limbs  over  till  they  touch  the  ground; 
a  Northern  Spy  apple  seeks  to  become  round- 
headed,  and  must  be  controlled  about  limbing  out 
at  one  spot;  an  Astrachan  is  also  round-headed, 
and  retains  that  shape  through  life ;  a  Russet  throws 
its  limbs  out  nearly  horizontal ;  and  so  you  may  go 
through  your  whole  orchard  and  find  a  strong  in- 
dividuality everywhere. 

I  shall  have  more  to  say  about  bees  in  another 
chapter,  but  here  let  me  tell  you  that  you  will  find 
a  large  share  of  your  fruit  blossoms  cannot  perfect- 
ly poUenize  themselves  —  a  fact  that  repeats  itself 

[152] 


seven]  out   in    the   orchard 


in  the  vineyard  and  in  the  flower  garden.  The 
Bartlett  pear  and  the  Anjou  are  marked  instances 
in  the  pear  orchard,  while  among  your  apples  the 
more  self-sterile  include  Astrachan,  Ben  Davis, 
Fameuse,  Gravenstein,  Grimes'  Golden,  King, 
Rhode  Island  Greening,  Spitzenburg,  and  Rox- 
bury  Russet.  Insects  are  needed,  and  especially 
honey  bees,  everywhere  to  carry  the  pollen  grains 
from  one  tree  to  another.  It  often  happens  that  a 
very  rainy  May  prevents  insects  from  flying,  and  so 
the  apple  crop  becomes  greatly  reduced,  if  not  a 
failure. 

I  have  not  forgotten  that,  in  many  cases,  you 
will  be  buying  an  old  homestead,  and  so  you  will 
come  into  possession  of  a  few  aged  and  more  or 
less  derelict  fruit  trees.  One  of  your  flrst  ques- 
tions will  be  what  to  do  with  these.  Begin  by  re- 
moving the  dead  limbs  and  every  sucker,  except 
possibly  a  few  very  strong  ones  that  will  help  to 
make  a  new  head  for  the  tree.  In  most  cases 
these,  having  grown  for  several  years,  will  have  de- 
vitalized the  tree  and  started  decay.  You  cannot 
make  over  these  old  trees,  yet  you  may  get  some 
service  from  them  while  you  are  growing  new  ones. 
Young  apple  trees  will  come  into  bearing  in  four 

[153] 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


to  five  years  after  planting,  and  will  give  fair  crops 
in  six  to  eight  years.  If  you  buy  your  trees  headed 
low  they  will  begin  to  bear  much  earlier  than  if 
headed  high.  Pear  trees  especially  should  be 
limbed  low;  for  in  this  way  standards  will  come 
into  bearing  as  early  and  as  profusely  as  dwarfs. 
You  must,  however,  bear  in  mind  that  you  may 
wish  to  plow  among  your  trees  after  they  have 
grown,  and  that  will  be  impossible  if  they  are  not 
headed  six  or  seven  feet  high.  Handle  an  old  pear 
tree  very  much  as  an  old  apple  tree;  that  is,  com- 
pletely clean  it,  remove  the  suckers,  scour  with 
kerosene  emulsion,  and  paint  over  wounds.  If 
there  are  holes,  carefully  cover  from  the  weather  by 
tacking  over  them  pieces  of  tin.  I  have  got  from 
old,  broken  Onondagas  and  Seckels,  that  were 
nearly  dead,  by  careful  treatment,  shoots  that  formed 
new  heads  and  bore  good  crops  for  many  years. 
It  is  a  curious  fact  that  some  varieties  of  apples, 
like  the  Porter,  are  never  so  good  on  vital  trees  as 
on  aged,  decaying  ones.  Therefore,  go  slow  about 
cutting  down  an  old  fruit  tree  until  it  is  quite  un- 
able to  pay  for  itself.  I  have  four  apple  trees,  set 
by  a  missionary  to  the  Indians  in  1791,  which  still 
yield  abundant  crops. 

[154] 


SEVEN]  OUT   IN   THE   ORCHARD 


Apples,  and  indeed  all  fruit,  should  be  handled 
like  eggs.  If  a  picker  drops  or  tosses  them  into  a 
basket,  even  three  inches,  he  should  be  discharged. 
Such  handling  bruises  a  few  cells,  and  at  once 
begins  decay.  You  will  often  hear  people  say,  "  My 
apples  are  not  keeping  well."  If  you  notice,  those 
people  will  say  the  same  thing  another  year.  The 
year  has  seldom  anything  to  do  with  it.  The  trou- 
ble is  in  the  handling  of  the  fruit.  After  being  laid 
in  the  basket,  it  should  be  taken  out  by  hand  into 
a  wagon,  upon  clean  blankets  or  soft  hay,  then 
taken  to  the  cellar,  and  after  careful  sorting,  be  laid 
into  the  bins  from  the  baskets.  It  should  be  put 
in  storage  just  as  fast  as  picked.  At  each  move 
handle  softly  and  kindly,  and  after  that,  if  graded 
properly,  the  high  grades  will  not  rot  in  a  cool  stor- 
age room. 

Grading  should  leave  apples  in  at  least  three  as- 
sortments. No.  1  should  be  absolutely  perfect 
fruit,  to  be  stored  or  barreled.  This  grade  should 
go  with  honor.  It  should  stand  for  all  that  you 
are.  If  you  lie  in  your  fruit-grading  you  are  not 
to  be  trusted  anywhere,  and  you  cannot  trust  your- 
self. Store  your  fruit  in  bins  about  fifteen  inches 
in   depth  —  certainly  not  more  than   two   feet   in 

[155] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


depth.  Of  course  every  apple  is  sound,  and  you 
have  been  as  honest  with  yourself  as  with  your  cus- 
tomers. With  proper  experience  you  will  learn 
that  the  bins  of  Kings  and  Spitzenburgs  should  be 
sold  by  the  end  of  January,  while  those  of  Green- 
ing, Baldwin,  and  Jonathan  may  remain  into  Feb- 
ruary and  March,  and  Newtown  Pippins  and 
Swaars  and  Russets  can  be  held  until  May. 

Your  No.  2  apples  should  be  graded  about  as 
those  commonly  seen  in  market  as  No.  1.  They 
will  sell  at  a  lower  price,  and  they  will  keep  until 
midwinter,  but  they  will  need  examination  and 
occasional  sorting.  The  No.  3  grade  includes  only 
fruit  slightly  defective,  of  the  choicest  sorts.  The 
balance  should  go  as  quickly  as  possible  into  cider; 
but  even  the  cider  apples  should  be  graded,  so  as 
to  use  the  most  perishable  stock  first. 

Every  one  who  owns  fifty  apple  trees  should  have 
a  small  cider  press  and  a  gasoline  engine.  Such 
a  press  should  turn  to  cider  all  wasting  products 
—  either  apples  or  pears.  When  there  is  not  a 
good  market  for  cider  it  should  go  into  vinegar 
barrels.  Whenever  your  crop  is  one  hundred  and 
fifty  barrels,  if  you  have  cared  for  it  properly, 
about  ninety  barrels  should  be  first  grade;  about 

[  156  J 


seven]  out   in    the   orchard 


thirty  should  be  second  grade;  and  thirty  more 
should  go  into  third  grade,  or  cider.  Let  no  wormy 
fruit  lie  in  your  orchard  at  any  season  of  the 
year,  for  the  larvae  of  the  moths  will  pass  into  the 
ground,  and  make  you  future  trouble. 

1  am  in  danger  of  keeping  you  too  long  in  the 
orchard.  I  love  the  sight  and  smell  of  apple  trees, 
as  well  as  the  sight  and  smell  of  the  fruit.  I  have 
a  dozen  sorts  lying  about  my  desk,  flanking  the 
books  and  papers,  and  they  are  quite  as  beautiful 
and  fragrant  as  the  nasturtiums  in  a  great  bowl 
of  water,  and  mignonette  in  a  vase  with  a  rosebud. 

I  have  intended  this  chapter  to  cover  a  wide 
field;  yet  there  is  a  wider  field  still  opening  before 
the  fruit  grower.  The  government  is  enthusias- 
tic over  a  new  fruit  produced  by  the  experiment 
stations  in  charge  of  the  Agricultural  Department. 
This  is  a  cross  between  the  orange  as  it  grows  in 
Florida  and  the  hardy  citrus  which  has  been  grown 
successfully  through  the  most  of  the  apple  belt. 
This  citrus,  while  yielding  flowers  of  exquisite  odor, 
had  given  us  no  fruit  for  consumption.  The  new 
variety  is  a  thoroughly  good  dessert  fruit,  but  of 
small  size.  This,  however,  matters  little;  all  we 
wanted   was    to    have    the   door   opened   in   this 

[1571 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


direction.  With  the  zeal  and  enterprise  heretofore 
shown  by  our  horticulturists,  it  is  almost  certain 
that  within  a  few  years  we  shall  have  oranges  grow- 
ing in  our  Northern  States  —  certainly  as  far  north 
as  the  Ohio  River.  Those  who  have  time  for  far- 
ther experiment  will  find  the  growing  of  figs  pos- 
sible as  far  north  as  Pennsylvania.  The  summers 
are  sufficiently  long  and  warm  to  secure  a  strong 
growth  of  the  tree,  but  the  fruit  will  not  mature  un- 
less there  is  protection  to  carry  it  through  the  win- 
ter. It  is  recommended  to  wrap  the  fruiting  shoots 
in  matting  and  straw,  or  to  build  temporary  sheds 
over  the  plants.  My  opinion  is  that  fig-growing 
will  be  successful  precisely  as  we  grow  peaches  — 
that  is,  in  pots  or  boxes  which  can  be  removed  to 
sheds  or  sheltered  places  during  the  winter.  I  am 
successful  in  growing  quite  a  number  of  fruits, 
which  will  not  endure  the  winter's  temperature,  in 
tubs,  as  suggested  above.  The  peach  belt  can  be 
widened  very  decidedly  in  this  way.  The  fruit 
matures  readily,  and  is  of  as  fine  quality  as  that 
grown  in  a  peach  orchard. 

The  possibilities  in  fruit  culture,  where  a  person 
owns  but  a  small  area,  are  not  yet  appreciated. 
Everywhere   about   the   country   there   are   waste 

[158] 


seven]  out   in    the   orchard 


spots,  unremunerative  to  the  owner,  which  might 
be  devoted  to  plums,  cherries,  apples  and  pears. 
From  the  Bureau  of  Plant  Industry  I  borrow  the 
following  estimate  of  fruit-bearing  plants  that  can 
be  grown  on  an  area  of  sixty  by  eighty  feet.  You 
may  have  three  rows,  one  containing  six  trees  of 
dwarf  pears ;  one  containing  six  specimens  of  dwarf 
apples;  one  containing  six  plum  trees;  one  contain- 
ing six  cherry  trees ;  one  more  with  six  peach  trees ; 
and  thirty-two  grape  vines  distributed  around  the 
entire  garden,  at  intervals  of  ten  feet.  Beside  these 
trees,  it  is  possible  to  grow  on  the  same  area  forty 
plants  of  red  raspberry,  forty  of  black  raspberries, 
twenty  of  blackberries,  and  three  hundred  straw- 
berry plants.  Imagine  for  yourselves  how  much 
comfort  and  profit  may  come  from  so  restricted 
an  area  of  fruit. 


[159] 


CHAPTER    EIGHT 
STRAWBERRIES   AND   THEIR   KIN 


1  HE  strawberry  is  a  member  of  the  Rosaceae 
family.  There  are  four  families  of  trees  and  plants, 
without  which  mammals,  including  man,  would 
have  found  it  very  difficult  to  exist  on  the  earth  — 
certainly  to  secure  progressive  evolution.  These 
are  the  rose,  the  cereal,  the  solanum,  and  the  palm 
families.  In  our  temperate  zone  the  rose  or  Ros- 
acese  family  is  the  most  important  cooperator 
with  human  kind.  It  includes  in  our  orchards 
the  peaches,  plums,  cherries,  apricots,  pears,  and 
apples.  But  this  is  not  all,  for  when  we  pass  over 
into  our  gardens  we  find  that  the  blackberry,  the 
raspberry,  and  even  the  creeping  strawberry  are 
all  of  the  same  kin.  I  have  had  a  good  deal  to  do 
with  a  part  of  this  family  in  other  chapters;  I  am 
here  to  consider  the  strawberry  and  its  near  kin  — 
that  is,  the  raspberry  and  the  blackberry,  including 
the  dewberry.     Think  how  much  of  the  brightness 


STRAWBERRIES   AND   THEIR   KIN 


and  poetry  of  existence  is  associated  with  these 
berries;  and  if,  then,  you  widen  out  your  vision  to 
take  in  the  whole  family  —  including  several  vari- 
eties of  trees  that  do  not  give  edible  fruit  —  you 
will  see  that  it  is  of  royal  blood. 

You  will  be  tempted,  at  the  very  outset  of  your 
home-making  in  the  country,  to  plant  a  large  straw- 
berry bed.  There  are  certainly  few  sights  more 
beautiful  than  a  row  of  strawberry  plants  loaded 
with  blossoms  and  ripening  and  ripe  berries.  The 
fruit  simply  covers  the  ground.  For  most  people 
it  is  a  very  wholesome  fruit,  although  I  have  found 
a  few  to  whom  it  was  a  poison.  Yet  I  advise  you 
to  go  slow  in  planting  strawberries,  for  the  reason 
that  there  is  no  fruit  that  needs  more  specific  atten- 
tion and  continuous  care,  and  for  that  matter  more 
horticultural  skill,  than  this  little  vine.  I  would 
surely  begin  with  a  very  small  plot,  and  I  would 
experiment  with  only  two  or  three  varieties  to 
begin  with.  In  the  first  place,  the  bed  must  be  pre- 
pared very  carefully,  to  exclude  not  only  roots  of 
weeds,  but  weed  seeds.  If  you  enrich  it  with  barn- 
yard manure  in  which  there  is  clover  seed  and 
grass  seed,  you  will  have  only  continuous  labor  and 
small  crops.     The  soil  should  be  light  and  friable, 

[161] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


thoroughly  worked,  and  very  strong.  Really  good 
vegetable  soil,  in  which  can  grow  the  best  potatoes, 
onions,  and  beets,  is  good  strawberry  soil.  I  should 
lay  out  my  bed  with  relation  to  adjacent  crops,  so 
that  the  horse-cultivator  can  do  the  work  at  the 
same  time  that  it  goes  through  the  raspberry  or 
other  small-fruit  rows. 

If  the  soil  needs  fertilizing,  apply  the  most  com- 
pletely decomposed  barnyard  manure,  with  which 
may  be  mixed  a  good  proportion  of  ashes.  If  the 
ground  is  inclined  to  be  stiff  you  may  work  in  a 
large  amount  of  coal  ashes  from  anthracite  coal. 
These  loosen  the  clay  soil,  and  allow  the  absorp- 
tion of  nitrogen.  Where  commercial  fertilizer  is 
used,  apply,  in  the  fall,  kainit  and  phosphates.  The 
following  spring  apply  nitrate  of  soda  —  before  the 
blossoms  have  appeared,  and  when  the  leaves  are 
dry.  One  of  the  Experiment  Stations  gives  the 
following  formula:  Cottonseed  meal,  five  hundred 
pounds;  acid  phosphate,  one  thousand  pounds; 
muriate  of  potash,  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
per  acre.  You  can  easily  estimate  the  proportion 
needed  for  your  small  bed.  This  formula  should 
be  applied  late  in  the  summer  or  late  in  the  fall. 
Nitrate  of  soda  can  be  applied  in  the  spring,  in  con- 

[162] 


eight]      strawberries   AND   THEIR   KIN 


nection  with  this  mixture,  at  the  rate  of  about  one 
hundred  pounds  per  acre.  Another  Experiment 
Station  recommends  precipitated  phosphate  five 
hundred  pounds;  kainit,  one  thousand  pounds; 
nitrate  of  soda,  two  hundred  pounds  —  the  nitrate 
of  soda  being  applied  in  the  spring,  and  the  rest 
in  the  fall.  But  if  you  have  fairly  good  garden 
soil,  not  heedlessly  exhausted  by  previous  crop- 
ping, you  make  your  own  manures.  I  have  said 
in  another  chapter  that  I  would  in  all  cases  com- 
post manures.  The  compost  which  I  apply  to  my 
strawberry  beds  comes  from  the  house  drainage 
and  waste,  after  it  has  been  thoroughly  intermixed 
with  decomposed  barn  manure  and  coal  ashes.  I 
cover  my  strawberries  in  the  fall  quite  freely  with 
this  compost,  applying  liquid  manure  in  the  spring. 
If  your  bed  is  near  the  barn,  be  sure  that  you  have 
every  ounce  of  liquid  manure  caught  in  a  stone 
reservoir,  or  at  least  a  sunken  barrel,  so  that  you 
may  save  it  for  your  berry  plots,  including  the 
strawberry. 

The  position  of  a  strawberry  bed  must  depend 
also  upon  your  ability  to  irrigate.  Unfortunately, 
there  is  not  one  of  our  crops  so  easily  spoiled  as  this 
delicious  berry.     We  are  very  liable  to  dry  spells 

[103] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


in  June,  just  when  the  strawberry  is  swelHng  and 
ripening.  If  possible,  have  the  bed  where  the  irri- 
gation will  be  easily  achieved.  Carrying  pipes 
from  your  reservoir  or  well,  it  is  not  a  diflScult  mat- 
ter to  flood  a  small  bed  between  the  rows,  thor- 
oughly soaking  the  roots. 

Most  of  us  find  it  inconvenient  to  grow  straw- 
berries in  hills,  which,  after  all,  is  the  ideal  plan  for 
most  varieties.  Some  of  the  best  varieties  are  use- 
less with  any  other  method  of  growing.  If  grown 
in  hills  we  must  keep  all  runners  from  getting  a 
start,  and  the  tilth  must  be  very  clean.  Some  vari- 
eties will  make  hills  as  large  as  a  peck  measure,  and 
will  give  proportionately  large  crops.  The  usual 
culture  is  in  rows,  and  this  I  recommend  for  nearly 
all  who  are  not  professionals.  In  planting  have 
your  rows  four  feet  apart,  and  set  your  plants  one 
foot  apart  in  the  row.  When  the  runners  start, 
your  first  attention  must  be  to  see  that  they  run 
mainly  in  the  row,  instead  of  starting  off  across  the 
intermediate  pathway.  If  set  in  the  spring,  the 
matted  row  will  be  quite  complete  by  fall.  If  we 
set  in  the  summer  there  should  still  be  considerable 
growth  made,  and  something  of  a  row  established 
by  November.     I  prefer  spring  planting,  provided 

[164] 


eight]      strawberries   AND   THEIR   KIN 


the  soil  is  not  sticky.  The  ground,  in  fact,  should 
be  rather  dry  than  otherwise  when  the  planting 
takes  place. 

Here  comes  a  very  particular  point  in  the  cul- 
ture of  strawberries.  The  plants,  if  received  from 
a  distance,  should  have  had  a  good  bath,  of  an  hour 
or  two,  in  a  brook  or  a  tub  of  water.  The  ground 
being  friable  and  clean,  draw  your  line;  then  with 
a  trowel  dig  a  small,  shallow  hole,  and  have  the 
ground  slightly  mounded  in  the  bottom.  Spread 
the  roots  over  this,  shove  on  the  dirt,  and  crowd 
down  with  all  your  might.  If  you  have  got  the 
dirt  just  right,  the  plant  will  be  left  with  the  crown 
exactly  level  with  the  general  surface  of  the  ground. 
Mark  you,  it  must  not  stand  above,  nor  must  it  be 
crowded  at  all  below  —  it  must  be  absolutely  level 
with  the  general  surface.  After  having  crowded 
in  dirt  to  cover  the  roots,  slowly  pour  in  a  quart  of 
water,  then  throw  over  loose  dirt,  and  your  planting 
will  be  a  success.  You  cannot  set  a  strawberry 
plant  as  you  would  a  cabbage  plant  —  that  is,  with 
indifference  to  the  exact  depth  of  the  crown. 

Now  if  dry  weather  sets  in,  and  watering  be- 
comes essential,  irrigate  regularly,  if  you  can,  with 
pipes.     If  you  have  not  any  such  convenience,  dig 

[165] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chaptlk 

a  hole  about  as  large  as  the  palm  of  your  hand  by 
the  side  of  each  plant,  once  in  two  or  three  days, 
and  pour  in  a  quart  of  water,  slowly.  Then  scat- 
ter over  dry  dirt  to  hold  in  the  moisture.  Two 
such  waterings  will  serve  for  a  week.  On  no  ac- 
count whatever  sprinkle  a  strawberry  bed  or  water 
the  plants  very  slightly.  Do  it  thoroughly,  or  let 
it  alone.  The  bed  will  get  along  far  better  without 
you  if  you  are  unwilling  to  be  thorough. 

Strawberry  beds  are  generally  renewed  every 
year  —  that  is,  new  strawberry  beds  are  set,  while 
the  old  one  is  allowed  to  do  what  it  will  for  an  ad- 
ditional year.  This  is  too  much  trouble  for  a 
small  country  place,  and  it  is  unnecessary.  A 
strawberry  bed,  with  proper  care,  can  be  made  to 
do  good  service  for  three  years,  or  even  more.  Best 
crops,  of  course,  will  appear  on  fresh  beds,  but  the 
old  beds,  carefully  handled,  will  give  good  satis- 
faction. In  order  to  secure  this  perpetuity  of  a 
bed  you  must  keep  the  rows  very  narrow,  by  cut- 
ting off  the  suckers;  but  about  every  second  year 
you  must  let  the  runners  form  midway  rows,  while 
you  fork  out  or  plow  out  the  old  plants.  My  cus- 
tom is,  after  a  bed  has  borne  two  years,  to  set  it  to 
currants   or  raspberries,  without    entirely  uproot- 

[166] 


riGHT]      STRAWBERRIES   AND   THEIR   KIN 


ing  the  plants.  The  strawberries  are  allowed  to 
give  me  some  small  returns  for  a  year  or  two  more, 
while  the  substituted  plants  are  growing. 

A  strawberry  bed  must  be  invariably  covered, 
in  order  to  make  it  secure  from  heaving  out  or  freez- 
ing out  during  the  winter.  A  few  of  the  newer, 
long-rooted  varieties  take  so  strong  a  grip  on  the 
soil  that,  while  no  hardier,  they  are  not  as  liable  to 
be  heaved.  But  in  covering,  we  have  to  remem- 
ber that  the  object  is  not  so  much  to  protect  the 
plant  as  to  prevent  freezing  and  thawing  of  the 
soil.  The  real  difficulty  is  thawing  after  freezing, 
and  then  freezing  again.  After  experimenting 
with  all  sorts  of  covering,  I  am  satisfied  that  our 
best  plan  is  to  use  compost  such  as  I  have  de- 
scribed, distributing  it  freely  along  the  rows  about 
the  first  of  November.  It  should  not  cover  the  tips 
of  the  leaves.  •  The  plants  should  be  visible  all 
along  the  rows,  otherwise  you  will  find  that  you 
have  smothered  and  rotted  more  than  you  have 
saved.  In  the  spring,  with  a  little  movement  of  a 
rake,  this  compost  can  be  settled  down  into  the  rows 
as  a  fertilizer.  Autumn  leaves  make  a  fairly  good 
covering,  provided  they  can  be  held  in  place  with 
trimming  from    your    raspberries    or   other  light 

[167] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


brush;  but  be  careful  not  to  smother  your  plants. 
I  have  used  sawdust  very  satisfactorily,  because  it 
need  not  be  removed,  only  raked  into  the  alleys  in 
the  spring.  I  believe  tanbark  is  considered  a  good 
covering  by  those  who  can  get  it.  Cut  straw  is 
used  by  many,  but  this  sort  of  covering  is  liable  to 
draw  the  mice,  who  will  use  it  for  nesting,  and  then 
gnaw  the  plants.  I  am  careful  never  to  use  straw, 
either  for  covering  or  for  mulching  in  the  fall,  but 
an  old,  decaying  straw  heap  can  be  utilized  in  the 
spring,  either  as  mulching  about  trees  or  as  a 
mulch  between  the  rows  of  strawberries  —  pushed 
up  close  under  the  stems,  that  would  incline  to 
droop  over  and  get  soiled.  This  mulching  of  a 
strawberry  bed  is  exceedingly  valuable  in  the  way 
of  retaining  moisture  and  tiding  over  a  dry  spell. 
When  the  bearing  season  is  past  the  mulch  can  be 
forked  under  on  a  small  bed,  or  in  larger  beds  it 
can  be  taken  away  for  other  uses. 

As  for  varieties,  I  shall  not  undertake  to  give  you 
anything  like  a  complete  list,  simply  because,  be- 
fore my  book  gets  to  you,  there  will  be  other  new 
and  promising  sorts  on  the  market.  Every  year 
sends  out  two  or  three  really  good  new  sorts,  and  a 
good   many  more  that   deserve  testing.     Just   at 

[168] 


eight]      strawberries   AND   THEIR   KIN 


present,  if  I  were  to  set  a  strawberry  bed,  1  would 
select  for  quite  free  planting  Miller,  Sample, 
Wm.  Belt,  Howell,  Gandy,  Senator  Dunlap,  and 
Glen  Mary.  These  are  all  what  we  would  class 
as  medium  early,  excepting  Gandy,  which  is  one 
of  the  latest  and  one  of  the  best.  Miller  makes  a 
very  large  plant  and  is  a  strong  rooter,  the  berry 
being  '*  perfect" — that  is,  it  does  not  need  another 
variety  to  pollenize  it.  The  plant  is  a  great  bearer 
and  a  great  runner.  The  fruit  is  very  large,  round- 
ish, conical,  bright  red,  and  of  excellent  quality. 
Its  ripening  season  is  rather  late  than  early.  Sam- 
ple is,  all  in  all,  as  good  as  any  variety  that  I  have 
tested.  It  is  healthy,  extremely  productive,  very 
large,  and  runs  well.  It  is  one  of  the  varieties 
that  make  long,  strong  roots.  The  fruit  is  very 
large,  dark,  rich  red  in  color,  and  in  quality  good. 
Wm.  Belt  is  another  thoroughly  tested  and  univer- 
sally noble  berry,  perfect  in  the  way  of  self-pollen- 
ization,  bright  red  and  glossy  in  color,  very  large, 
and  of  the  highest  quality.  Its  ripening  season 
is  a  little  after  medium,  although  it  gives  some 
berries  quite  early.  The  plant  is  very  large,  and 
makes  plenty  of  runners.  Howell  is  a  very  tall- 
growing  sort,  with  long  fruit  stems  and  with  long 

[169] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


roots.  The  berry  is  quite  large,  and  is  borne  in 
great  quantities,  while  the  quality  is  best.  Gandy 
is  a  late  berry,  and  very  prolific  —  especially  in  clay 
soil.  The  plant  is  not  very  large,  but  sends  out 
long  runners,  and  is  healthy.  The  fruit  is  excel- 
lent in  quality,  and  of  bright  color  —  having  a  rich 
fragrance  in  the  box.  This  is  a  good  variety  for 
those  who  wish  a  strawberry  bed  to  continue  for 
several  years.  Glen  Mary  has  given  about  as 
good  satisfaction,  in  localities,  as  any  berry  ever 
planted.  On  clay  soil  and  low  ground  this  variety 
will  be  a  failure ;  but  on  well  drained,  or  gravelly, 
or  light,  soil,  it  will  be  a  great  success.  Plants  are 
large  and  stocky;  the  berries  are  dark-colored  and 
firm.  It  has  been  reported  to  yield  20,000  quarts 
to  an  acre. 

Another  variety  that  is  highly  recommended  is 
Ridgeway.  This  variety  is  held  by  some  growers 
to  be  the  very  best  on  low,  wet,  or  clay  soil.  It  is 
a  perfect  pollenizer,  and  a  very  healthy  plant.  The 
fruit  is  medium  size  and  very  uniform.  Brandy- 
wine  is  a  very  popular  variety,  with  large,  heart- 
shaped,  bright-colored  fruit,  of  excellent  quality. 
With  me  it  does  not  give  heavy  crops.  Haver- 
land  is  a  berry  that  is  truly  wonderful  for  the  quan- 

[170] 


eight]      strawberries   AND   THEIR   KIN 


tity  of  fruit  that  it  will  yield.  There  are  two  trou- 
bles in  connection  with  it:  the  berries  are  rather 
soft,  and  in  a  wet  season  the  heavy  stems  tip  over 
and  rot,  while  in  a  dry  season  the  plant  is  quickly 
affected,  and  the  berries  are  small.  Senator  Dun- 
lap  is  a  new  variety  of  very  high  quality,  yielding 
a  huge  crop  of  rather  large  berries,  of  splendid 
quality.  It  will  also  be  good  for  a  home  bed, 
where  sale  is  not  thought  of.  Parsons'  Beauty  is 
another  new  sort  that  I  have  tried  with  satisfac- 
tion. The  plant  is  very  large,  the  foliage  dark- 
colored,  and  the  roots  very  long  and  strong.  It 
yields  immense  crops  of  dark-red,  conical  berries. 
The  quality  of  this  berry  is  rather  tart  than  sweet. 
Downing's  Bride,  sometimes  called  Kitty  Rice,  is 
another  variety  that  can  be  recommended  in  high 
terms  for  a  home  garden.  The  fruit  is  large,  of 
fine  shape,  and  in  quality  probably  not  surpassed 
by  any  other.  If  you  wish  for  a  berry  of  the  most 
remarkable  size  and  quality,  but  a  poor  bearer 
unless  grown  in  hills,  take  Marshall.  Where  you 
are  petting  your  strawberry  bed,  this  variety  and 
Howell,  grown  side  by  side,  will  give  you  immense 
pleasure.  Gibson  is  rather  susceptible  to  frost, 
but  is  a  wonderfully  fine  grower,  while  the  berry  is 

[171] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [cHArTEu 


large,  very  rich  red,  and  of  good  flavor.  The 
Mark  Hanna  is  a  new  sort,  the  crowning  work  of 
that  veteran  horticulturist,  M.  T.  Thompson,  of 
Rio  Vista,  Va.  It  is  said  to  be  extremely  large, 
rich  in  flavor,  and  very  beautiful.  It  is  a  good 
shipper,  and  promises  to  be  every  way  democratic 
in  adapting  itself  to  soils. 

Rough  Rider  succeeds  admirably  as  a  very  late 
berry  on  some  soils.  It  is  a  strong-growing  plant, 
and  very  productive  of  a  high-colored  fruit.  Oom 
Paul  is  reported  as  doing  finely.  The  plants  are 
vigorous  and  the  berry  among  the  largest.  How- 
ever, all  these  varieties,  grand  as  they  are,  cannot 
displace  the  old  Bubach  —  a  variety  that  can  be 
depended  upon,  almost  everywhere,  to  give  us 
splendid  crops  of  the  largest-sized  berries,  with 
only  reasonable  culture.  The  plant  is  very  large, 
sending  out  just  enough  runners,  and  always 
healthy. 

I  have  named  enough  of  the  old  and  new  vari- 
eties, and  have  given  them  a  just  description,  but 
I  have  not  named  two  or  three  sorts  which  will 
still  require  to  be  mentioned  for  those  who  will 
make  strawberry  growing  for  market  a  specialty. 
For  these  Warfield,  Bismarck,  and   Gandy,  with 

[172] 


eight]      strawberries   AND   THEIR   KIN 

Bubach  and  Clyde,  constitute  a  quintette  that  can 
be  relied  upon ;  add,  probably,  Senator  Dunlap. 

A  good  deal  has  been  done  recently  to  secure  very 
early  and  very  late  sorts  of  strawberries.  Nothing 
better  than  Gandy  has  been  secured  for  very  late; 
and  for  very  early  it  is  doubtful  whether  we  have 
secured  anything  better  than  Michel's  Early. 
Johnson's  Early  seems  to  be  winning  its  way  among 
good  judges.  In  my  own  ground  I  rely  upon  my 
own  seedlings,  one  of  which,  number  9,  ripens  close 
after  Michel,  and  continues  to  bear  nearly  through 
the  season.  Excelsior  is  early,  but  useless  on  ac- 
count of  acidity.  Texas  is  a  very  early  sort  which 
may  prove  to  be  of  extraordinary  value.  Palmer, 
I  fear,  is  a  failure;  I  certainly  get  no  fruit  from  it 
worth  the  ground  it  grows  on. 

I  recommend  that  you  begin  your  small-fruit 
garden  with  a  rather  free  planting  of  red  raspberries, 
as  these  will  be  more  easily  grown  than  strawberries, 
giving  you  prompt  returns,  and  can  be  relied  upon 
for  steady  revenue.  A  field  of  red  raspberries, 
properly  cultivated,  is  good  for  ten  years;  I  have 
continued  a  field  for  sixteen  years.  I  do  not  advise 
the  retention  of  old  plants  beyond  ten  or  twelve 
years.     The  plants  should  be  set  in  thoroughly  clean 

[  173  ] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


ground,  well  prepared  and  fertile,  in  rows  five  feet 
apart.  The  distance  in  the  row  must  depend  u})on 
the  variety  that  you  are  setting.  Some  of  the  fancy 
sorts,  like  Turner,  give  magnificent  berries,  and 
plenty  of  them,  when  grown  in  hills;  but  they  will 
not  yield  enough  to  pay  for  their  ground  if  grown 
in  rows.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Cuthbert  will  do 
better  in  rows  than  in  hills.  The  same  is  true  of 
Golden  Queen,  which  is  a  sport  of  Cuthbert.  The 
canes  when  planted  must  be  cut  down  close  to  the 
ground,  so  that  new  suckers  shall  be  sent  up  from 
the  roots.  Nothing  in  the  way  of  fruit  can  be  ex- 
pected the  first  year;  you  must  first  grow  your  canes. 
If  these  are  well  cultivated  with  plow,  cultivator, 
and  hoe,  you  will  have  a  fine  lot  of  bearing  canes, 
ready  to  give  you  a  crop  the  second  year  from 
planting. 

After  the  picking  season  is  over,  you  must  go 
through  your  rows  with  a  sharp  corn  knife,  and  cut 
out  the  old  canes  —  leaving  new  ones  to  give  you  the 
next  year's  crop.  When  these  canes  are  removed, 
fork  them  out  of  the  rows,  and  burn  them.  Now 
drive  stout  stakes  at  the  head  of  each  row,  and  in- 
termediate stakes  every  twenty  feet.  Hitch  wires 
to  run  on  each  side  of  your  row,  stapling  them  to 

[174] 


eight]     strawberries   AND   THEIR   KIN 


the  intermediate  poles,  and  then  draw  your  new 
canes  up  between  the  wires,  where  they  will  be  held 
firm,  and  not  broken  down  by  winter  snow.  You 
are  ready  next  for  clipping  the  tops  of  the  canes  — 
down  to  about  four  or  five  feet.  You  are  now  pre- 
pared for  winter  —  unless  your  land  lies  so  that  fall 
plowing  will  be  advisable.  On  hillsides,  of  course, 
you  will  not  do  fall  plowing,  for  you  will  suffer  too 
great  loss  by  wash  of  winter  and  spring  floods.  If 
the  ground  lie  level,  by  all  means  plow  in  October, 
throwing  the  dirt  toward  the  plants. 

In  the  spring  you  will  begin  again  with  your 
plow,  thoroughly  working  the  soil  and  then  run- 
ning your  cultivator  to  level  it.  After  this  you  will 
run  the  cultivator  until  close  after  picking  season. 
However  small  your  berry  lot,  I  advise  you  to  work 
it  with  plow  and  cultivator.  The  cultivator  is  of 
more  value  than  all  irrigating  systems.  It  is  even 
better  than  frequent  showers.  Keep  it  running, 
wherever  you  can,  all  summer. 

The  best  varieties  of  red  raspberries  for  planting, 
either  in  large  fields  or  in  small,  are  the  Cuthbert 
and  Golden  Queen,  and  Shaffer's  Colossal.  The 
Cuthbert  made  a  revolution  in  raspberry  growing, 
making  it  possible  to  grow  three  times  as  many 

[175] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


berries  in  a  given  space,  of  a  larger  size,  easily  port- 
able to  market,  and  of  a  fairly  good  quality.  The 
canes  are  not  absolutely  hardy,  yet  we  are  confi- 
dent of  a  fairly  good  annual  crop  of  Cuthberts. 
Golden  Queen  is  hardier  in  cane.  The  berry  is 
a  rich  golden  yellow,  and  quite  as  portable  as  its 
parent.  No  other  yellow  berry  is  worth  the  rais- 
ing, unless  it  be  seedlings  of  the  Golden  Queen  — 
which,  I  find,  are  quite  likely  to  spring  up  in  our 
fields.  The  Shaffer's  Colossal  is  an  enormously 
large,  purple  berry.  It  is  a  cross  of  the  black  rasp- 
berry with  the  red,  and  nearly  all  seedlings  of  it 
will  revert  to  the  black  parent.  I  prefer  it  decid- 
edly to  the  Columbian,  although  the  latter  is  a  very 
strong  grower,  yielding  enormous  crops,  and  the 
berry  is  less  perishable.  Probably,  if  you  are  grow- 
ing for  a  distant  market,  you  had  better  plant  the 
Columbian.  For  canning  the  purple  berries  have 
a  flavor  quite  preferable  to  the  red,  while  the  yellow 
sorts  give  a  very  different  flavor,  and  do  not  hold 
substance  well  in  the  can. 

Another  red  sort  of  decided  quality  is  the  Turner. 
This  berry  is  passing  out  of  cultivation  because  it 
needs  so  much  care.  Still  another  excellent  old 
variety  is  the  Clarke.     In  a  small,  private  garden 

[176] 


eight]      strawberries   AND   THEIR   KIN 


the  Clarke  and  Turner,  kept  in  hills,  will  delight 
the  owner.  The  Loudon  is  a  recent  candidate  for 
favor,  and  is  a  splendid  berry  for  home  use.  It 
gives  enormous  crops,  and  the  berry  is  of  rich  qual- 
ity, but  if  you  are  growing  for  market  you  will  find 
the  Loudon  will  hardly  keep  over  night.  The 
canes  are  not  so  tall  as  the  Cuthbert,  but  they  are 
frost-proof.  The  Marlboro  is  a  very  early  sort,  of 
a  bright  red  color,  and  high  flavored.  It  is  all 
right  for  a  small  garden.  A  new  variety  just  placed 
on  the  market,  called  the  King,  is  said  to  be  a  very 
strong  grower,  very  hardy  and  productive,  while 
the  berry  is  a  good  shipper  and  the  color  bright 
red.  Most  of  our  very  early  berries  have  proved 
to  be  rather  weak  in  the  cane.  Haymaker  is  an- 
other recently  introduced  berry,  which  will  prob- 
ably be  very  valuable  for  home  use.  It  is  soft  but 
of  high  quality,  and  an  enormous  producer. 

My  conviction  is  that  those  who  make  homes  in 
the  country  should  always  be  experimenting  in  the 
way  of  growing  seedlings,  and  that  with  no  plant 
are  we  more  sure  of  fair,  if  not  excellent,  results, 
than  the  raspberry.  I  have  been  able  to  originate 
a  large  number  of  really  good  varieties  of  red  and 
yellow  sorts,  which  add  a  good  deal  to  my  pleasure 

[177] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


and  to  my  profit.  I  do  not  think  that,  all  in  all, 
any  one  of  them  is  preferable  to  Cuthbert  or  Golden 
Queen.  With  the  black  raspberry  1  have  been 
even  more  successful.  It  is  my  custom  to  let  the 
bird-sown  seedlings  in  my  vineyards  grow  until 
they  can  be  trained  to  the  trellises  and  show  their 
quality.  The  result  has  been  some  remarkable 
new  sorts.  What  we  want  now  is  a  berry  that  will 
give  us  as  heavy  crops  as  the  Cuthbert,  with  higher 
quality  and  an  absolutely  hardy  cane.  A  purple 
as  good  as  Shaffer,  and  absolutely  hardy,  is  also 
desirable.  However,  Shaffer,  although  it  kills 
back  somewhat  every  year,  is  very  sure  of  giving 
us  a  heavy  crop. 

Of  black  raspberries  I  hesitate  to  name  any  vari- 
eties as  most  excellent.  I  should  prefer  to  see  you 
follow  my  suggestion  in  the  way  of  growing  seed- 
lings—  provided  you  get  your  seed  from  the  old 
Gregg,  an  enormous  berry,  but  not  hardy.  Per- 
haps the  best  early  black  raspberry  that  we  can 
purchase  from  the  nurseryman  is  the  Kansas.  It 
is  a  strong,  vigorous  grower,  enduring  most  ex- 
treme cold  and  droughts,  and  bearing  enormous 
crops.  The  berries  are  very  large,  jet  black,  and  of 
splendid  quality.     So  far  as  I  have  grown,  the  best 

[178] 


eight]      strawberries   AND   THEIR   KIN 


late  variety  is  the  Nemaha.  This  is  a  favorite 
berry  for  market,  because  the  fruit  is  of  the  highest 
quaHty,  and  carries  well.  The  bushes  are  very 
strong  growers,  very  healthy,  and  quite  hardy.  A 
new  variety  called  the  Cumberland  is  said  to  be  the 
largest  of  all  blackcaps.  It  is  probably  a  seedling 
of  the  Gregg,  and  very  much  like  that  variety.  The 
canes  are  stout  and  stocky,  producing  immense 
crops.  The  probabilities  are  that  we  shall  have 
new  seedlings  in  this  family  of  blacks  —  that  is,  the 
Gregg  family  —  covering  the  whole  season,  and 
even  preferable  to  those  I  have  named.  A  very 
common  and  very  excellent  sort  is  the  Palmer  —  a 
berry  that  ripens  among  the  very  earliest. 

It  is  impossible  for  those  who  have  small  gar- 
dens, and  pay  little  attention  to  them,  to  grow 
black  raspberries  with  any  such  freedom  as  they 
grow  red.  The  red  reproduces  itself  by  suckers, 
and  in  that  way  the  old  rows  can  be  sustained  for 
years  by  simply  cutting  out  annually  the  dead 
canes.  The  black  raspberry,  on  the  contrary, 
propagates  only  by  rooting  at  the  tips  of  the  canes. 
If  you  desire  to  multiply  them,  you  must  see  that 
the  tips  touch  the  ground  and  are  not  disturbed 
while  rooting.     An  old  stool  of  black  raspberries 

[179] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


will  not  last  more  than  three  years  in  a  bearing 
condition. 

The  blackberry  is  ugly  in  its  disposition,  and  in 
its  cane  has  yielded  least  of  all  to  civilization.  It  is 
curious  that  this  magnificent  fruit  has  come  along 
down  to  us  with  so  many  friends,  yielding  such  a 
delicious  fruit,  but  in  no  way  giving  up  its  defense 
against  the  enemies  that  it  had  in  the  wild  state. 
Old  Humphrey  says,  however,  that  "Ye  black- 
berry is  a  prime  teacher  of  patience  and  endurance. 
It  scratcheth  and  teareth,  in  order  that  it  may  make 
us  sweeter-tempered.  Whoever  filleth  his  pail  with 
this  delightful  fruit,  will  go  home  cheerful  in  spite 
of  ye  tatters  and  ye  thorns."  In  our  gardens  we 
are  getting  some  magnificent  varieties,  if  we  only 
knew  where  to  put  them.  I  have  found  it  con- 
venient to  have  a  double  row  of  blackberries  grow- 
ing along  a  side  of  my  property  which  is  easily  en- 
tered by  strolling  boys.  I  find  that  since  these  have 
grown  the  lads  have  forgotten  where  my  vineyard 
is.  They  will  walk  many  a  rod  further,  on  their 
route  to  the  swimming  pond,  rather  than  under- 
take to  cross  my  lot.  The  blackberry  needs  a 
moist  place,  but  never  wet,  and  it  demands  deep, 
rich,  strong  soil.     I  have  grown  it  without  culti- 

[  180  ] 


EIGHT]     STRAWBERRIES  AND  THEIR   KIN 

vating,  allowing  it,  after  the  first  two  or  three  years, 
to  fill  up  the  whole  lot  with  canes  and  take  care  of 
itself.  This  plan  will  work  very  well  on  a  long, 
narrow  strip.  All  you  have  to  do  is  to  cut  out 
the  old  canes  each  year  and  burn  them ;  then  with 
your  hedge  shears  cut  off  the  tops  of  the  canes 
down  to  about  six  feet.  It  is,  however,  wiser,  if 
you  intend  to  grow  the  finest  berries,  to  keep  the 
plants  in  rows  and  thoroughly  cultivate. 

The  best  varieties  in  my  grounds,  and  I  have 
tried  and  tested  nearly  all  the  new  ones  for  the  last 
thirty  years,  are  the  Eldorado  and  the  Ancient 
Briton,  with  Snyder  —  a  grand  sort  if  the  season  is 
all  right.  Unfortunately,  if  the  season  be  very  dry, 
the  Snyder  will  give  very  small  berries,  with  few 
drupes.  I  should  not  undertake  to  grow  the  Sny- 
der without  careful  cultivation.  The  Eldorado  is 
a  strong,  stiff  cane,  bearing  enormous  crops  of  de- 
licious fruit.  The  Kittatinny  is  a  variety  not  easily 
to  be  rejected,  although  it  kills  back  more  or  less 
each  winter.  It  is  a  magnificent  fruit,  and  has  a 
habit  of  bearing  somewhat  through  the  autumn 
months.  Most  of  the  advertised  sorts  are  quite 
tender  and  utterly  worthless,  excepting  south  of 
New  York  State.     As  a  rule,  do  not  plant  a  black- 

[181] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


berry  that  grows  with  a  sprawling  cane.  The 
Wachusetts  is  advertised  as  thornless,  but  is  not. 
The  Wilson  and  Rathburn  varieties  are  undoubt- 
edly extremely  valuable  in  some  sections.  The 
Agawam  is  a  very  sweet  berry,  but  of  a  sprawling 
growth.  The  Taylor  is  one  of  the  best  in  flavor. 
I  have  a  seedling  of  my  own,  which  I  call  Red 
Jacket,  that  resembles  the  Snyder,  but  is  superior 
to  that  variety.  Several  new  berries  are  just  com- 
ing into  the  market,  and  of  these  I  judge  that 
Blower's  will  prove  to  be  of  the  highest  quality 
and  value. 

The  planting  and  the  culture  of  the  blackberry 
are  very  similar  to  that  of  the  raspberry.  You 
must  cut  back  the  canes  when  planted,  close  to  the 
ground;  set  in  rows  at  least  eight  feet  apart,  and 
plant  one  foot  in  the  row.  Run  your  cultivator 
rather  shallow  among  your  blackberries,  so  as  to 
break  the  roots  as  little  as  possible.  These  roots 
make  a  mat  throughout  the  whole  soil.  They  will 
not  trouble  you  much  in  running  down  hill,  but  will 
run  up  hill  with  rapidity.  Keep  the  soil  rich  with 
wood  ashes  and  plenty  of  compost,  that  I  have  de- 
scribed elsewhere.  Barnyard  manure  will  do  no 
harm  as  a  rule,  while  it  serves  also  as  a  mulch. 

[182] 


eight]      strawberries   AND   THEIR   KIN 


The  secret  of  great  productiveness  is  heavy  feed- 
ing. I  have  not  mentioned  the  dewberry,  because 
I  cannot  recommend  you  to  plant  it.  Its  culture 
is  about  the  same  as  the  common  blackberry,  ex- 
cept that  it  must  be  tied  to  stakes.  If  allowed  to 
crawl  in  its  natural  manner,  the  vines  must  be  laid 
upon  brush  or  straw.  The  fruit  is  grand,  and 
comes  earlier  than  the  blackberry.  After  many 
years  of  trial  I  have  dug  all  sorts  out  of  my  ground 
—  so  far  as  I  can  get  them  out. 

Strawberry  blight  must  be  met  by  a  prompt, 
thorough,  and  frequent  application  of  Bordeaux 
Mixture.  Raspberry  and  blackberry  rust  require 
prompt  digging  out  of  the  plants  and  burning.  This 
rust  indicates  a  previous  enfeebled  vitality,  and  in 
all  probability  a  lack  of  proper  food.  Anthracnose 
is  another  raspberry  and  blackberry  disease,  which 
requires  a  thorough  application  of  iron  sulphate 
before  the  leafage  in  spring,  and  applications  of 
Bordeaux  frequently,  later. 

To  have  all  the  strawberries  and  blackberries 
that  you  want  for  a  single  year  without  paying  for 
them  will  be  a  novel  experience.  You  will  send 
a  few  specially  fine  baskets  to  your  city  friends  as 
an  aggravation  to  their  lot,  and  as  a  lure  to  win 
ri83] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


them  out  into  God's  country.  You  will  boast  of 
your  Bubachs  and  Samples  and  Senator  Dunlaps 
—  twenty  to  a  quart.  Your  strawberry  dishes  will 
be  frequently  enlarged  in  size,  and  so  also  will  your 
cream  pitchers.  We  do  not  do  things  on  so  small 
a  scale  out  in  the  country.  My  cream  pitcher  holds 
a  quart. 

Currants  and  gooseberries  are  not  in  the  Ros- 
acese  family,  but  they  are  so  closely  associated  with 
them  in  home  use  and  market  that  they  must  find 
a  place  in  this  chapter.  There  are  several  species 
of  currants  grown  by  American  gardeners.  The 
ribes  rubrum  includes  all  the  red  and  white  vari- 
eties, and  ribes  nigrum  the  black  varieties.  The 
growth  of  all  varieties  and  the  culture  is  about  the 
same.  The  currant  likes  a  moist  soil,  but  not  wet, 
and  clay  in  preference  to  sand.  It  will,  however, 
grow  in  almost  any  soil,  with  proper  tillage.  But 
to  do  its  best  the  currant  must  be  abundantly  fed. 
I  apply  my  compost  either  late  in  the  fall  or  early 
in  the  spring.  Thoroughly  decomposed  barnyard 
manure  is  excellent  for  the  currant,  if  applied  at  the 
same  season  as  the  compost.  The  black  currant 
is  rather  more  drooping  in  growth,  and  needs  to  be 
set  somewhat  wider  in  the  row  than  the  red  and 

[184] 


eight]      strawberries   AND   THEIR    KIN 


white  varieties.  There  is,  however,  quite  a  differ- 
ence in  the  several  varieties  of  white  and  red. 
Some  of  them  are  very  erect,  like  Cherry,  and 
others  very  decidedly  spreading,  like  the  Ver- 
sailles and  Fay.  I  should  set  my  currants  in  rows, 
about  five  or  six  feet  apart,  and  three  feet  in  the 
row.  If  you  wish  to  cultivate  both  ways,  set  your 
plants  about  five  feet  apart  each  way. 

For  varieties  select,  first  of  all,  for  home  use, 
White  Grape  and  Versailles.  The  White  Grape 
is  a  yellowish-white  currant,  of  most  delicious 
quality  and  large  size,  and  it  is  prolific  in  its 
bearing.  The  Versailles  is,  in  my  judgment,  the 
very  model  of  red  currants  for  beauty,  bunch, 
growth,  and  quality  of  fruit.  Fay's  Prolific  is  an- 
other red  variety,  scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from 
Versailles,  except  that  the  bush  is  not  so  firm  and 
erect.  It  is  a  very  popular  currant,  but  not  one 
whit  better  than  Versailles  in  any  respect,  and  not 
so  good  in  a  few  particulars.  Among  the  newer 
varieties  North  Star  is  recommended  as  having 
long  stems;  White  Imperial  as  being  an  improve- 
ment on  White  Grape;  London  Market  as  being 
extremely  vigorous  in  growth  and  an  enormous 
cropper;  Pomona  as  being  an  enormous  yielder  of 

[185] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


small-sized  fruit;  Perfection  as  being  an  improve- 
ment on  Fay,  with  the  flavor  of  the  White  Grape, 
while  Wilder  is  a  very  strong  grower,  and  very  pro- 
ductive, rivaling  the  Fay  in  size.  All  of  these  that 
I  have  tried  are  either  inferior  to  White  Grape  and 
Versailles,  or  nearly  identical  with  them.  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  Perfection,  at  least,  will  be  an 
improvement.  It  was  originated  by  C.  C.  Hooker, 
of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  is  a  cross  of  Fay  with 
White  Grape.  Of  black  currants  the  Champion 
has  been  generally  planted,  but  Black  Victoria  is 
an  improvement  in  productiveness,  flavor,  and  size 
of  the  berry. 

Currant  seedlings  are  easily  started,  and,  if  seed 
is  selected  from  the  choicest  varieties,  we  are  sure 
to  get  interesting  results.  Some  day  we  are  to 
have  a  currant  as  large  as  a  gooseberry  or  cherry, 
but  I  do  not  think  we  shall  ever  improve  the  flavor 
of  the  White  Grape.  Among  my  own  seedlings  I 
have  a  bush  that  stands  seven  feet  high,  with  di- 
ameter of  five  to  six  feet,  perfect  branching,  and 
bearing  enormous  loads  of  fruit  equal  in  size  to 
Fay. 

The  gooseberry  should  be  grown  almost  all  ways 
precisely  like  the  currant.     The  rows  should  run, 

[186] 


eight]      strawberries   AND   THEIR   KIN 


if  possible,  north  and  south,  allowing  the  sun  very 
freely  to  reach  the  fruit.  At  the  same  time  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  a  very  hot  June  will  some- 
times blister  a  large  part  of  the  crop  and  ruin  it. 
The  best  soil  for  the  gooseberry  is  clay;  in  fact,  it 
will  never  give  its  best  results  on  sandy  soil.  For 
manures  apply  strong  compost,  with  ashes  or  barn- 
yard manure  that  is  thoroughly  decomposed. 

The  gooseberry  starts  into  growth  very  early  in 
the  spring,  and  must,  therefore,  be  planted  very 
early.  Set  in  rows,  about  six  feet  apart;  or,  if  to  be 
cultivated  both  ways,  the  plants  must  be  five  feet 
apart  each  way.  The  trimming  of  the  gooseberry 
must  be  somewhat  unlike  that  of  the  currant,  as  it 
bears  best  on  young  wood.  In  the  case  of  the  cur- 
rant we  remove  nearly  all  the  suckers  each  year; 
but  with  the  gooseberry  we  cut  out  the  oldest  wood 
and  the  weakest  suckers.  We  must  prune,  also,  to 
encourage  upright  growth,  cutting  away  the  most 
drooping  stems.  The  English  gooseberry  will 
thrive  best  where  there  is  partial  shade.  I  find 
that  gooseberries,  as  well  as  currants,  give  admir- 
able results  when  planted  in  rows  between  grape 
trellises.  Our  American  varieties  are  not  all  of 
them  of  pure,  native  blood.     Several  of  them  are 

[187] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


wildings,  bird-sown  probably,  from  European  sorts 
grown  in  gardens.  These  are  likely  to  show  their 
English  parentage  and  refuse  to  endure  a  very  hot 
sun.  I  have  one  variety,  found  in  a  pasture  lot, 
which  ripens  a  brilliant  scarlet  fruit  one  week  ear- 
lier than  any  other  gooseberry,  but  it  positively  de- 
mands shade. 

Among  the  best  foreign  varieties  are  Keepsake, 
a  very  large,  straw-colored  berry,  and  an  immense 
cropper  with  ordinary  care  —  a  delicious  fruit. 
Lancashire  Lad  is  another  English  variety,  bright 
red  in  color,  very  large,  and  of  superb  quality. 
Whitesmith  and  Crown  Bob  are  two  more  choice 
English  sorts.  The  most  commonly  planted  is 
Industry.  The  berries  of  this  sort  are  of  the  larg- 
est size,  of  excellent  flavor,  and  dark  red  in  color. 
The  bush  is  a  strong,  upright  grower  and  a  great 
cropper,  but  the  berries  are  hairy,  and,  to  my  taste, 
inferior  to  some  of  the  others.  Among  our  Ameri- 
can varieties,  the  best  known  are  Houghton  and 
Downing,  neither  of  which  would  I  recommend 
you  to  plant.  Columbus  is  a  fruit  of  much  larger 
size,  handsome,  greenish-yellow,  and  of  the  finest 
quality.  The  bush  is  a  strong  grower,  and  not  at  all 
subject  to  mildew.     Josselyn  is  an  American  seed- 

[188] 


eight]      strawberries   AND   THEIR   KIN 


ling  of  good  size,  very  hardy,  and  of  fine  quality. 
Among  my  own  seedlings  I  have  not  only  the  early 
one,  mentioned  above,  but  another  that  ripens  its 
fruit  in  September.  There  is  something  very  at- 
tractive about  the  effort  to  grow  improved  varieties 
of  these  small  fruits.  They  come  into  bearing 
when  young,  and  if  not  worth  the  keeping  we  have 
wasted  little  time  and  space  in  the  effort.  I  wish 
more  people  knew  what  a  grand  fruit  the  goose- 
berry is  at  its  best.  Gooseberry  jelly  is  one  of  the 
most  delicious  with  which  the  housekeeper  stores 
her  cupboard. 

The  propagation  of  gooseberries  and  currants  is 
identical.  Take  cuttings  in  the  fall,  as  soon  as  the 
wood  is  ripened,  seven  to  ten  inches  long.  Propa- 
gators generally  put  these  in  bundles,  in  a  cool  cel- 
lar, over  winter.  I  prefer  planting  them  at  once 
—  setting  them  obliquely,  in  clean  ground,  in  a  fur- 
row where  they  can  be  two-thirds  under  ground. 
Draw  the  dirt  on,  and  ram  it  down  very  tightly. 
When  done  the  row  should  stand  a  little  above  the 
level  of  the  soil,  to  avoid  the  settling  of  water  dur- 
ing the  winter.  The  cuttings  should  be  about  one 
inch  apart  in  the  row.  It  is  easy  to  multiply  either 
gooseberries  or  currants  by  layers,  or  an  old  bush 

[189] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


may  be  pulled  to  pieces,  making  a  large  mimber  of 
new  ones.  When  planting  your  currants  and 
gooseberries  set  them  quite  deep  in  the  soil.  In 
another  chapter  I  have  referred  to  the  insects  that 
attack  these  plants,  and  have  given  the  remedy. 

I  do  not  like  to  leave  my  small-fruit  garden;  in- 
deed, were  you  here  in  June,  July,  or  August,  you 
would  find  me,  pretty  surely,  among  my  berries. 
They  add  largely  to  the  profit  as  well  as  pleasure  of 
a  country  home,  but  nowhere  else  will  you  need 
to  exercise  more  clean  culture  and  common  sense. 
The  strawberry  abhors  a  shiftless  man,  and  gives 
him  only  nubbins.  The  raspberry  and  the  black- 
berry revert  to  their  wild  habits  and  become 
thickets  on  the  least  provocation. 


[190] 


CHAPTER    NINE 
TONS   OF   GRAPES 


1  HE  one  fruit  that,  next  to  apples,  should  con- 
stitute a  prime  article  of  diet,  is  the  grape.  Not 
only  in  the  vineyard  can  we  have  tons,  but  literally 
tons  more  on  our  buildings,  and  still  other  tons  on 
our  trees,  rockeries,  stone  walls,  fences,  stumps, 
and  arbors.  The  best  grapes  can  be  made  to 
climb  trees  and  cover  our  barns  as  easily  as  the 
wild  ones.  In  this  way  utility  combines  with  beauty. 
Vines  grow  quickly  and  come  soon  to  bearing. 
If  the  market  is  poor,  eat  grapes,  and  let  the  chil- 
dren have  all  they  desire.  It  is  cheaper  and  better 
food  than  meat  and  vegetables,  and  they  never  tire 
of  it.  I  recommend  that  you  go  out  before  break- 
fast and  sample  a  half  dozen  sorts;  repeat  the  ex- 
periment before  dinner,  and,  if  the  digestion  is 
poor,  take  nothing  else  for  supper.  Take  an  en- 
thusiastic friend  with  you,  and  make  notes,  dis- 
cuss and  compare,  and  so  your  vineyard  will  be  an 
annex  to  your  library  and  study. 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


The  evolution  of  grapes  and  grape  growing  has 
been  marvelous.  About  forty  years  ago  a  single 
carload  glutted  the  New  York  market;  now  a  car- 
load a  day  is  dropped  into  consumption  without  a 
ripple.  A  single  good-sized  family  can  use  a  ton 
of  grapes  in  the  course  of  a  single  year  —  for  jellies, 
marmalades  and  dessert.  Vast  areas  are  now  given 
to  growing  grapes,  yet  the  price  seldom  drops  so 
low  as  to  make  the  business  unprofitable.  The 
Concord  was  discovered  about  1850;  the  Delaware 
was  disseminated  by  Mr.  Campbell,  of  Delaware, 
Ohio,  a  little  later.  These  two  grapes  made  us  in- 
dependent of  foreign  sorts,  and  began  a  revolution, 
so  that  now  a  good  grape  catalogue  will  offer  over 
one  hundred  standard  varieties.  Most  of  these  are 
hybrids,  or  crossbreds,  produced  by  the  attentive 
skill  of  men  who  deserve  from  their  country  higher 
plaudits  than  generals  and  admirals.  Rogers' 
Hybrids  numbered  over  half  a  hundred,  and  were 
followed  by  Dr.  Grant's  delicious  lona  and  Israella; 
and  then  by  Rickett's  seedlings,  which  include  such 
superb  grapes  as  Jefferson.  Just  now  Mr.  Mun- 
son,  of  Texas,  is  at  work  adding  such  grand  achieve- 
ments as  Brilliant,  Headlight,  and  Wapanuka. 
Mr.  Moore,  of  Western  New  York,  has  added  two 

[192] 


nine]  tons   of   grapes 

remarkable  productions,  Moore's  Early  and  Dia- 
mond. 

Looking  over  select  lists  of  grapes,  I  often  won- 
der if  we  hopelessly  differ  in  our  tastes,  or  if  those 
who  make  the  lists  have  ever  tasted  the  grapes  they 
advertise  so  confidently.  I  have  grown  eighty  vari- 
eties, besides  a  large  number  of  seedlings  of  my 
own,  and  I  am  constantly  compelled  to  protest 
against  the  dissemination  of  many  of  those  that  are 
sent  out  as  of  the  highest  quality. 

If  set  down  to  the  selection  of  half  a  dozen  best 
grapes,  I  should  begin  with  Worden,  black;  Herbert, 
black;  Niagara,  white;  Hayes,  white;  Eldorado, 
white;  Brighton,  red;  and  Lindley,  red.  Already  I 
am  running  over  my  number,  yet  am  loth  to  leave 
out  Goertner.  Lady  is  as  good  a  white  grape  as  has 
yet  been  produced,  and  it  is  the  earliest  of  all  good 
sorts,  but  with  me  it  bears  very  few  and  poor  clus- 
ters. I  think  the  difficulty  is  largely  due  to  lack  of 
self-poUenization.  I  have  not  found  it  easy  to  sup- 
ply this  lack.  Jefferson  should  come  into  the  list 
of  prime  sorts  for  a  homestead  as  far  north  as  South- 
ern New  York.  It  does  not  always  ripen  in  this 
latitude,  although  the  vine  and  fruit  are  perfectly 
hardy.     In  all  the  list  of  excellent  varieties  the  two 

[193] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


that  are  nearest  to  ironclad  are  Golden  Pockling- 
ton  and  Moore's  Early  —  both  of  which  rank  close 
up  to  the  select  half  dozen.  Moore's  Early  is  a 
noble  grape  every  way,  in  the  growth  of  the 
vine,  in  hardiness,  in  size  of  bunch  and  grape,  and 
in  prolific  bearing  —  after  it  once  begins  to  give 
fruit.  The  Pocklington  is  equally  grand,  both  in 
vine  and  fruit.  It  needs,  however,  a  long  season  to 
bring  it  into  perfection,  not  being  fully  ripe  before 
about  October  10th.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  rec- 
ommended as  far  north  as  Massachusetts,  and 
Central  New  York,  Northern  Ohio,  and  Michigan, 
except  in  sheltered  localities.  Agawam  and  Diana 
are  two  of  the  best  keepers,  and  Agawam  is  cer- 
tainly one  of  the  best  grapes  for  vineyard  culture. 
I  have  heard  good  judges  pronounce  the  lona 
the  very  best  grape  in  existence,  but,  unfortunately, 
the  lona  is  quite  tender  in  northern  latitudes.  By 
covering  the  vines  with  leaves  or  compost  I  am 
able  to  secure  some  noble  bunches  that  are 
unexcelled  in  their  winelike  flavor.  Others,  going 
through  my  vineyard,  are  quite  emphatic  that  the 
best  of  all  grapes  is  the  Herbert.  It  certainly  is  one 
of  the  richest  of  all  our  grapes,  but,  like  most  of 
Rogers'  Hybrids,  it  is  not  a  self-pollenizer.     In  my 

[194] 


NINE]  TONS   OF   GRAPES 


selectest  list  I  have  placed  Worden.  This  grape  is 
a  positive  marvel.  It  is  a  seedling  of  Concord,  but, 
unlike  that  grape,  it  is  sweet  as  soon  as  colored, 
while  a  Concord  is  sour  until  it  has  reached  the 
stage  of  shiny  blackness.  The  Worden  may  be 
classed  as  the  very  best  early  black,  and  Herbert  as 
the  best  late  black.  Niagara  is  another  magnifi- 
cent production,  carrying  its  huge  bunches,  in  pro- 
digious quantities,  on  vines  that  are  remarkably 
healthy.  Lindley  and  Brighton  are  incomparably 
fine  among  the  red  grapes,  but  each  has  its  draw- 
backs. Lindley  is  very  long-jointed,  and  not  a  per- 
fect self-pollenizer;  in  fact,  quite  defective,  while 
Brighton  is  the  poorest  self-pollenizer  in  the  whole 
list.  Large  vineyards  of  this  grape  were  planted  in 
the  Hudson  valley,  and  were  plowed  out  by  the  in- 
dignant owners  before  they  found  that  it  needed 
a  good  neighbor,  like  Worden.  Goertner  is  a 
much  better  self-pollenizer,  but  not  quite  perfect. 

I  should  include  Diamond  in  my  list  of  the  very 
best  varieties,  if  it  were  not  so  irregular  in  its  date 
of  ripening,  and,  when  ripe,  were  not  so  variable  in 
quality,  while  to  this  we  must  add  that  the  vine  is 
unusually  susceptible  to  disease.  For  running 
headlong  over  rocks,   and   climbing  over  arbors, 

[195] 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

August  Giant  is  one  of  the  very  best  vines,  and  the 
grape  is  of  better  quahty  than  the  average  Con- 
cord ;  it  ripens,  however,  in  October,  and  never  in 
August.  Delaware  is  a  deHcate  grape,  of  rather 
weak  growth,  unless  the  soil  is  of  the  best  and  cul- 
ture equally  good. 

Among  the  sorts  of  later  introduction  there  are 
several  varieties  of  the  highest  quality,  and  ulti- 
mately to  be  ranked  with  the  very  best  I  have 
named.  Colerain  is  a  seedling  of  Concord,  a  white 
grape,  very  sweet,  ripening  very  early,  and  keeping 
very  late  —  or  through  the  grape  season.  Esther, 
Nectar,  and  Rockwood  are  three  more  of  very  fine 
quality;  Rockwood  I  especially  admire  for  its  rich 
quality.  Nectar  holds  its  clusters  long  after  ripe, 
and  is  a  grand  family  grape.  Campbell's  Early 
has  jumped  into  favor,  and  is  a  good  rival  of 
Moore's  Early.  The  McPike  is  an  enormous 
bunch  and  berry,  of  high  quality  and  recent  intro- 
duction. 

Massasoit  is  a  very  early  and  fine  red  grape, 
which  I  throw  out  with  regret  because  of  its  ten- 
dency to  rot,  while  the  Concord  must  be  rejected 
where  it  does  not  get  time  to  entirely  sv/eeten  its 
juices.     It  can  easily  and  fully  be  superseded  by 

[  196  ] 


nine]  tons   of   grapes 


Wordeii.  In  the  grape  sections,  such  as  around 
Lake  Keuka,  of  course  Catawba  will  hold  its  own. 
Niagara  is  not  quite  equal  in  quality  to  Hayes,  and 
it  has  no  advantage  over  that  variety  except  its 
huge  bunches.  The  Hayes  is  one  of  the  earliest  to 
ripen,  and  is  of  most  delicious  quality.  I  am  sorry 
to  say  that  Niagara,  when  it  reaches  market,  is  very 
seldom  thoroughly  ripe  —  not  so  ripe  as  to  bring 
out  its  entire  sweetness  and  richness.  Eldorado 
has  proved,  with  me,  not  a  very  prolific  bearer, 
but  its  quality  is  very  similar  to  Hayes  —  that  is, 
best. 

In  our  Northern  States  we  do  not  care  for  grapes 
to  ripen  much  before  the  middle  of  September.  If 
they  do,  they  are  very  sure  to  be  attacked  by  the 
oriole,  who  does  his  work  recklessly,  spoiling  ten 
times  as  much  as  he  eats.  Fortunately,  this  bird 
has  gone  South  by  the  first  of  September  —  he  is 
very  regular  about  it  —  and  we  are  glad  to  bid  him 
good-by.  The  beautiful  but  pert  rascal  drops 
down  in  flocks  on  his  way  South  and  adds  to  the 
destruction  wrought  by  our  home  birds,  immense 
quantities  of  bunches  being  picked  to  pieces,  for 
the  hornets  and  honey  bees  to  finish. 

For  Southern  States  a  different  list  is  needed. 

[197] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


Mr.  Munson,  of  Texas,  who  is  one  of  the  very  best 
fruit  authorities  in  the  United  States,  selects, 
among  other  varieties,  for  the  belt  reaching  from 
Delaware  through  Tennessee  and  Missouri,  and 
south  of  that  state,  Moore's  Early,  Worden,  Bril- 
liant, Green  Mountain ;  and  for  south  of  Tennessee, 
Worden,  Niagara,  Herbemont,  Scuppernong,  and 
Gold  Coin.  It  will  be  seen  that  Worden  and  Ni- 
agara come  very  near  being  cosmopolitan  grapes, 
while  Moore's  Early  follows  close  after.  Another 
good  authority  places  among  the  best  varieties  for 
the  Gulf  States  Concord,  Niagara,  Moore's  Early, 
Goethe,  Lindley.  Goethe  is  a  superb  grape,  but  in 
the  North  needs  covering  for  the  winter;  even  at 
the  best,  we  very  rarely  get  the  full  quality  of 
such  a  grape  in  our  colder  climes. 

The  grape  does  not  need  special  soil,  nor  half  so 
much  special  knowledge  as  the  books  imply.  All 
the  varieties  I  have  named  will  grow  in  any  good 
garden  soil.  Terraces  on  steep  hillsides  are  all 
right  with  imported  soil,  but  they  are  not  at  all 
necessary.  Most  of  the  Chautauqua  vineyards  face 
the  north,  but  I  should  prefer  that  my  vineyard 
face  east  or  south,  if  possible.  I  like  a  location 
that  will  absorb  a  good  deal  of  heat  during  the  day, 

[1981 


nine]  tons   of   grapes 


and  carry  safely  through  the  frosty  nights.  My 
own  location  is  on  a  hillside,  somewhat  valleyed 
out,  and  generally  facing  the  southeast.  I  escape 
the  late  spring  frosts  and  early  autumn  frosts,  that 
touch  my  neighbors  half  a  mile  above,  or  down  in 
the  bottom  of  the  valley.  This  sort  of  location,  if 
possible,  is  good  for  all  garden  and  orchard  pur- 
poses. 

Set  your  vines  about  eight  or  ten  feet  apart  in 
the  row,  and  the  rows  ten  feet  apart.  This  allows 
a  row  of  currants  between,  which  do  not  cut  off  the 
sun  from  the  grapes.  It  is  absolutely  essential  to 
have  the  full  force  of  the  sun  for  perfecting  the 
grape.  Plant  two-year-old  vines,  and  buy  of  the 
very  best  nurserymen,  directly  —  and  not  through 
agents.  Generally  it  is  preferable  to  set  in  the 
spring,  because  the  ground  is  easily  got  into  good 
shape.  If  you  set  in  the  fall,  mulch  with  coal  ashes 
—  not  with  straw,  that  mice  might  nest  in  — and 
leave  it  slightly  heaped  about  the  vines.  Cut  back 
each  vine  to  two  eyes;  then  spread  the  roots  care- 
fully, and  pack  the  dirt  tightly,  until  you  come  to 
the  mulch,  which  you  leave  lying  loosely,  and,  as  I 
said,  slightly  mounded.  Your  trellis  will  be  wanted 
the  second  year,  and  should  be  made  of  posts  set 

[199] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


by  every  third  or  fourth  vine,  and  with  three  wires 
fastened  to  the  posts  with  staples.  When  such  a 
trelHs  is  done,  it  is  practically  a  high  fence.  The 
bottom  wire  is  generally  placed  from  two  to  three 
feet  from  the  ground,  the  top  wire  at  six  feet.  I 
grow  my  vines  a  good  deal  higher  than  market- 
men,  because  I  wish  to  lift  them  above  berries. 

The  fact  is,  you  will  not  find  the  grape  a  good  sur- 
plus crop  for  market  when  grown  on  a  small  home 
lot,  and  with  usual  care.  The  great  shippers  can 
afford  to  sell  for  prices  that  would  not  compensate 
you  for  your  care  and  expense.  Twenty  years  ago 
I  sold  my  surplus  of  Delawares  and  Rogers'  Hy- 
brids for  eight  to  ten  cents  a  pound.  Now  when 
I  go  into  market  they  will  not  bring  me  over  three 
or  four  cents  a  pound.  I  find  it  convenient,  and 
quite  as  profitable,  to  invite  a  dozen  or  twenty 
stalwart  college  boys  to  spend  two  or  three  hours 
of  Sunday  afternoon  with  me,  during  October 
and  November  —  discussing  books,  grapes,  and 
manhood.  I  am  sure  that  no  grapes  ever  found 
more  appreciative  customers.  All  in  all,  I  advise 
you  to  grow  just  as  many  grapes  as  you  can  con- 
sume, having  a  small  surplus  for  fancy  market 
and  enough  to  give  away. 

[200] 


nine]  tons   of   grapes 

I  shall  not  undertake  to  expound  the  systems  of 
trimming  grapes,  because  for  the  most  part  these 
systems  are  puzzles.  Experts  quarrel  over  their 
favorite  methods.  I  will  refer  you  to  Bailey's  Cy- 
clopedia of  Horticulture  for  a  description  of  the 
systems  most  in  favor.  A  still  better  way  will  be 
to  visit  a  good  vineyard  —  in  the  Chautauqua  sec- 
tion, or  Hudson  valley  section,  or  in  Northern  Ohio, 
or  in  Missouri,  and  see  the  work  in  operation. 
There  is,  however,  nothing  more  important  in  grape 
growing  than  thorough  trimming.  This  should  be 
done  in  late  autumn,  or  winter,  or  very  early  in  the 
spring,  before  the  sap  starts.  All  vines,  of  all 
varieties,  will  be  better  for  being  laid  down  in  the 
winter.  This  is  all  that  I  do  with  my  varieties,  ex- 
cept the  Duchess,  lona,  Goethe,  and  Delaware, 
which  are  carefully  covered.  Concords  and  Dela- 
wares  are  too  poor  for  the  time  spent  on  them. 
If  you  grow  them  at  all  in  the  North,  you  will  get 
the  sweetest  from  vines  that  climb  hand  over  hand, 
in  a  wild  way,  up  the  trees.  A  few  of  the  late- 
ripening  grapes,  such  as  Jefferson  and  lona  and 
Goethe  and  Pocklington,  may  be  grown  on  the 
south  side  of  the  barn,  in  a  glass  house,  but  the 
vines  carried  up  through  the  roof  and  trained  on 

[201] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chafier 

the  side  of  the  barn.  This  will  very  much  increase 
their  hardiness,  and  hasten  their  coming  to  ma- 
turity. I  have  them  growing  in  a  peach  house,  and 
carried  up  as  I  describe.  Sweetwater  grapes  and 
Black  Hamburgs  may  be  treated  in  the  same  way. 

To  grow  grapes  on  your  barns  and  outbuildings 
they  should  be  planted  about  ten  feet  apart,  and  as 
they  grow  they  must  be  protected  from  animals  by 
a  stout  wire  netting.  When  they  are  high  above 
danger  of  browsing,  box  in  the  trunk  of  the  vine 
with  boards;  then  spread  the  arms  over  the  barn  or 
other  building,  on  wires  stapled  crosswise.  These 
wires  should  be  about  two  or  three  feet  apart,  and 
on  no  account  should  the  vines  be  fastened  directly 
to  the  building.  Tie  the  vines  to  the  wires,  and 
when  you  desire  to  let  them  down  you  have  only 
to  clip  the  strings.  The  wires  will  not  hinder  you 
from  repainting  your  building.  All  other  climbing 
vines,  such  as  roses,  clematis,  bittersweet,  should 
be  treated  in  the  same  way.  Be  very  sure  that 
grapes  like  Brighton  or  Lindley,  if  run  over  your 
buildings,  have  good  neighbors  to  pollenize  them 
—  otherwise  you  will  have  your  labor  without  com- 
pensation. 

The  art  of  keeping  grapes  depends  upon   (1) 

[^202] 


NINE]  TONS   OF   GRAPES 


picking  them  just  when  fully  ripe,  not  over-ripe; 
(2)  removing  every  defective  berry,  and  handling 
the  bunches  very  tenderly;  (3)  packing  in  clean 
baskets,  holding  six  or  eight  quarts,  about  half  full, 
and  with  thick,  brown  paper  above  and  below; 
(4)  carrying  at  once  to  a  cool,  dry  room  —  but  not 
a  drying  room.  On  the  other  hand,  a  warm  cellar 
will  not  do  at  all,  and  rarely  any  cellar.  The  stor- 
age room  should  be  closed  and  dark.  There  should 
be  no  odors  of  any  sort  about,  for  grapes  are  very 
quick  to  absorb  evil  odors.  I  had  used  tarred 
paper  to  ceil  my  fruit  cellar,  and  in  a  single  week's 
storage  every  grape  was  spoiled  and  apples  were 
damaged.  (5)  Wrap,  if  you  will,  each  bunch  in 
tissue  paper.  (6)  Look  over  your  baskets  once  in 
two  weeks,  and  use  them  according  to  their  ten- 
dency to  decay.  You  will  soon  discover  which  of 
your  varieties  are  good  keepers,  and  I  know  that 
you  will  decide  upon  Agawam,  Diana,  Alice,  as 
among  the  best,  while  Worden,  although  thin- 
skinned,  if  very  carefully  handled  is  not  a  bad 
keeper.  Catawba  is,  of  course,  our  best  long- 
keeping  grape,  although  I  find  among  my  seed- 
lings from  Herbert,  Diana  and  Hayes  some  very 
good  rivals  of  Catawba.     With  these  very  simple 

[  203  ] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


precautions,  and  without  cold  storage,  I  am  able 
to  have  grapes  till  the  end  of  January. 

I  have  said  tons  of  grapes  advisedly,  for  you  can, 
by  following  my  suggestions,  grow  half  a  ton  on 
your  barn,  and  another  half  ton  on  your  arbors  and 
house.  The  season  can  be  extended  from  Septem- 
ber first  to  February  or  March,  and  so  you  will 
find  that  your  home  consumption  will  be  some- 
thing enormous  each  year.  I  have  recently  read 
an  article  on  longevity  by  a  French  physician  of 
note;  he  says:  "Live  in  the  country  if  possible;  eat 
little  meat;  eat  fruit  freely  every  day,  before  break- 
fast and  before  dinner,  and  especially  let  your  die- 
tary include  cherries,  apples  and  grapes;  go  to  bed 
early,  and  rise  early;  keep  your  temper,  and  be 
cheerful.  There  is  no  reason  why  you  may  not 
live  one  hundred  years.  In  old  age  one  may  live 
almost  entirely  on  fruit,  cereals  and  nuts."  If  my 
book  induces  every  reader  to  plant  a  vine  of  Wor- 
den,  another  of  Niagara,  and  another  of  Brighton, 
I  shall  have  added  to  the  health  and  happiness  and 
longevity  of  mankind. 


[204] 


Ti^^y    ^.--CT^-vtf:.^  -   '^^              •'    ^         ' 

-  ■•  ^C^" 

V"         ..,•. 

■^^  . 

»,;""  lla 

^-4- 

l^^p^ 

Pl 

f^^l 

'■'»! 

.  ;9>^»*,;.;'-   _^   .     ,, 

M     1      II JT"^  ■ 

'     ■ . 

.  •^4^..^t..^- '^  *^ 

-7>  ^  -'»^-.  -i^^^^^^H 

igi; 

|^^>^  ^^^^^H 

I^K:.^;^ 

^  V  -^^np^  ■'■ ,. 

-^ : 

CHAPTER    TEN 

AMONG   THE    FLOWERS 


1  HERE  is  no  possible  floral  display  like  an  orchard 
of  apples,  pears,  plums,  and  cherries  —  and  peaches 
if  you  can  grow  them.  Yet  it  is  an  easy  matter  in 
the  country  to  have  a  shrubbery  and  a  flower  gar- 
den. I  say  easy  because  you  must  not  lay  out  for 
so  much  work  and  care  that  you  will  get  weary  of 
your  best  things.  Fifty  years  ago  vegetable  gar- 
dens were  worked  with  a  spade,  and  flower  gar- 
dens our  mothers  dug  with  a  knife  —  digging  forks 
and  trowels  were  unknown.  Sunflowers,  nastur- 
tiums and  hollyhocks  grew  in  the  vegetable  gar- 
den, but  the  pinks,  cinnamon  roses,  and  annuals 
came  with  the  most  terrible  backache.  I  shall  try 
to  tell  you  what  flowers  will  be  most  satisfactory, 
and  at  the  same  time  most  easily  grown. 

Waste  very  little  time  on  inferior  things,  for  in  the 
country  you  will  have  enough  to  do  to  fully  and  en- 
joyably  occupy  every  hour.     Be  prompt  to  throw 


THECOUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


aside  coarser  plants  that  do  not  add  to  the  refine- 
ment of  your  lawn.  For  this  reason  I  discard  bal- 
sams and  zinnias,  holding  that  the  despised  nose 
has  special  rights  in  a  flower  garden.  But  we  shall 
do  well  to  go  farther,  as  most  of  the  annuals  take 
more  time  and  room  than  they  are  worth.  The 
culture  of  flowers  ought  always  to  go  on  with  the 
culture  of  ourselves.  When  we  discard  second- 
rate  things  it  shows  that  we  are  growing;  the  flower 
garden  is  enlightening  us,  and  not  merely  pleasing 
us. 

Do  not  be  too  sure  that  single  flowers  are  always 
the  more  beautiful.  There  is  beauty  in  geometry 
and  mathematics ;  so  there  is  in  the  symmetrical  ar- 
rangement of  dahlia  petals,  and  in  the  fine  art  of 
the  General  Jack  rose.  Some  flowers  are  more 
beautiful  in  their  single  specimens,  because  only  in 
these  can  the  fine  penciling  of  nature  be  displayed 
—  as  in  the  gladiolus  and  the  salpiglossis.  A  dou- 
ble hollyhock  may,  however,  be  the  climax  of  shad- 
ing and  color,  as  well  as  of  artistic  arrangement. 

Of  course  every  woman  who  makes  a  country 
home  will  have  her  favorite  flowers,  which  she  will 
desire  to  multiply;  then  in  all  neighborhoods  there 
are  flowers  which  have  secured  a  special  welcome, 

[  206  ] 


ten]  among  the  flowers 


and  these  will  be  adopted.  After  fifty  years  of 
flower  growing,  I  have  a  list  of  favorites  that  I  can- 
not get  along  without.  One  of  these,  if  not  the 
first  of  all,  is  the  old-fashioned  nasturtium  —  a  flow- 
er that  never  says  enough,  that  will  give  you  con- 
tinuous bloom,  in  profusion,  from  June  till  frost. 
As  it  grows  low  on  the  ground,  it  can  be  covered 
easily  through  half  a  dozen  frosts,  till  there  comes 
a  freeze.  The  fragrance  is  wholesome,  and  the 
flower  lasts  long  when  cut.  You  can  cut  sprigs  as 
freely  as  you  please,  and  they  will  not  be  missed 
from  the  bed.  The  sweet  pea  well  grown,  as  it  sel- 
dom is  grown,  is  one  of  the  most  charming  plants 
in  the  world.  I  have  it  on  trellises  eight  feet  high, 
and  from  these  we  gather  constantly  great  bunches 
of  flowers  through  four  months  of  the  year.  The 
trellises  are  just  far  enough  apart  to  admit  of  free 
passage  and  sunshine.  If  the  aster  were  sweet  it 
would  rank  among  the  noblest  of  our  flowers ;  as  it 
is,  few  can  compete  with  it  in  clean,  bright,  good- 
hearted  blooms,  coming  in  the  cool  autumn  months, 
and  not  easily  frozen.  I  like  best  those  flowers  that 
mark  evolution,  and  this  the  asters  do  admirably. 
So  also  do  the  perennial  phloxes  —  one  of  the 
grandest  of  all  our  flowers  for  country  homes.     But 

[  207  ] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chai^ek 


just  now  perhaps  sweet  peas  mark  the  very  finest 
work,  the  genius  and  the  patience  of  our  best 
horticulturists.  Brains  also  have  been  put  into 
new  cannas  and  gladioli;  and  what  a  supreme 
poem  is  such  a  rose  as  Virginia  Coxe,  or  Balduin  — 
a  poem  written  equally  by  an  inspired  hand  and 
soul! 

The  tulip  is  my  special  delight,  nor  can  I  ever 
get  too  many  of  them,  everywhere  about  my  land. 
Let  me  tell  you  a  secret.  When  you  set  a  bed  of 
strawberries,  push  tulips  down  four  inches  deep  in 
all  the  rows,  and  six  inches  apart.  Here  they  will 
blossom  early  in  the  spring,  before  the  strawberries 
blossom,  and  they  will  get  out  of  the  way,  all  but  a 
dry  stalk,  before  you  pick  your  berries  in  June.  In 
this  way  you  will  have  the  most  magnificent  floral 
display,  without  decreasing  in  the  slightest  degree 
your  crop  of  fruit.  I  am  planting  this  year  not  less 
than  a  full  bushel  of  bulbs  in  my  new  beds.  Once 
in  about  three  years  your  strawberry  bed  will  have 
worn  out,  and  must  be  renewed;  dig  tulips  also 
once  in  three  years,  and  follow  up  your  new  straw- 
berry beds.  They  multiply  with  great  rapidity, 
and  if  you  dig  ever  so  carefully  some  bulbs  will  be 
left  in  the  soil,  so  that  in  time  tulips  will  show 

[208] 


ten]  among  the  flowers 


wherever  a  strawberry  bed  has  been,  even  twenty 
years  before  —  in  gardens  or  in  grass.  They  will  do 
no  harm,  but  will  glorify  your  property,  while  you 
will  be  able  to  pick  them  by  the  armful.  This  is 
the  way  to  have  all  that  you  can  want  of  this  mag- 
nificent flower,  all  that  you  can  admire,  and  all  that 
you  can  give  away.  Besides,  you  can  sell  or  give 
away  the  bulbs  by  the  hundred,  and  start  an  honest 
tulip  mania  all  around  the  town.  If  this  chapter 
does  no  other  good  than  to  teach  you  how  to  grow 
tulips  easily,  and  enough  of  them,  it  will  be  quite 
enough  to  repay  me  for  writing  it. 

A  good  collection  of  roses  is  much  more  rare 
than  it  ought  to  be.  I  am  afraid  that  this  is  be- 
cause growers  confuse  buyers  with  indiscriminate 
praise  of  hundreds  of  sorts,  most  of  which  need 
special  culture.  It  is  also  in  part  due  to  the  fact 
that  we  cannot  cure  country  people  of  the  habit  of 
entertaining  agents  and  buying  their  extraordinary 
and  impossible  offerings.  As  a  rule,  these  peri- 
patetic peddlers  are  rogues.  Their  promises  are 
high  colored,  but  the  products  are  just  the  other 
way.  A  good  list  of  roses  for  a  quiet  country  home 
would  be,  of  June  flowering  varieties,  Crimson 
Rambler,  Cabbage,  Mad.  Plantier,  Yellow  Ram- 

[209] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


bier,  the  Wichuriana  varieties;  and,  if  there  be  still 
room,  don't  forget  the  old  Damask  and  the  Cinna- 
mon. The  Wichuriana  is  a  recent  importation 
from  Japan,  with  beautiful,  glossy  foliage,  and  cov- 
ered with  large  single  flowers  in  June.  Hybrids 
give  crimson  flowers  and  pink  flowers,  some  of 
which  are  double.  They  all  run  rapidly  by  suck- 
ering,  and  are  most  admirable  for  covering  rough 
places  or  filling  in  among  rocks.  These  Japan 
roses  are  not  particular  about  soil,  or  about  any- 
thing else.  They  are  people's  roses.  The  old  Cab- 
bage rose  deserves  a  place,  not  only  for  its  beauty, 
but  from  association  with  our  mothers  and  fathers. 
It  is,  however,  a  grand  rose  in  itself,  and  quite 
hardy.  Crimson  Rambler  and  its  children  are 
marvels  of  florescense.  Considering  that  they  are 
almost  absolutely  hardy,  nothing  can  be  better  for 
a  blossoming  hedge  or  to  border  a  walk,  only 
remember  to  have  sweet  peas  or  some  other  climb- 
ing flower  to  follow  later  in  the  season.  These 
can  grow  on  the  same  frames,  and  not  be  in  the 
way  until  the  Ramblers  are  through  blooming. 

A  thoroughly  good  list  of  Hybrid-Perpetual  roses 
might  include  one  hundred  varieties.  I  will  name 
sixteen  sorts  that  will  give  you  entire  satisfaction. 

[210] 


ten]  among  the  flowers 


These  are,  Alfred  Colomb,  Louis  VanHoute,  Victor 
Verdier,  Anna  de  Diesbach,  Chas.  Lefebre,  Coun- 
tess of  Oxford,  Gen.  Jacqueminot,  Mrs.  John 
Laing,  Paul  Neron,  Margaret  Dickson,  American 
Beauty,  Francois  Levet,  Dinsmore,  Vick's  Caprice, 
Ulrich  Brunner,  Prince  Camille  de  Rohan.  This 
list  leaves  out  a  host  of  good  ones,  but  it  will  prob- 
ably be  larger  than  most  of  my  readers  will  need  to 
plant.  Special  favorites  with  me  are  General 
Jack,  Dinsmore,  Ulrich  Brunner,  Jules  Margotin, 
Alfred  Colomb.  Perhaps  these  will  be  all  that  you 
can  afford. 

Of  nearly  hardy  roses  there  is  an  immense  list, 
and  where  your  protection  is  fairly  good  they  make 
the  most  satisfactory  plants  because  always  in 
bloom.  My  list  begins  with  that  grand  rose,  La 
France,  followed  by  Kaiserin  Augusta  Victoria, 
Clothilde  Soupert,  Malmaison,  Balduin,  Liberty, 
Hermosa,  Virginia  Coxe,  Meteor,  Perle  de  Jardins, 
Papa  Gontier,  Mrs.  Robert  Peary,  President  Car- 
not,  Maria  Guillot,  Belle  Seibrecht,  Mad.  Abel 
Chatenay,  Souvenir  de  Wootton,  Mad.  Caroline 
Testout.  Here  again  we  are  leaving  out  many  fine 
roses  —  more  than  we  are  including  —  but  the  list  in- 
cludes some  of  the  very  best  and  hardiest.  If  you 
[^11] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


can  only  plant  half  a  dozen,  take  Hermosa,  Bal- 
duin.  Liberty,  Clothilde  Soupert,  Mrs.  Robert 
Peary,  Virginia  Coxe.  The  grandest  new  rose  of 
1903  in  my  bed  was  Gen.  Mac  Arthur,  and  the 
best  of  the  previous  year  was  Virginia  Coxe. 

The  hybrid  tea-roses  are  practically  hardy,  re- 
quiring only  hilling  up  in  winter,  although  among 
them  there  are  degrees  of  power  to  resist  the  frost. 
On  the  whole,  this  is  one  of  the  very  best  classes  of 
roses  for  general  planting.  It  has  the  advantage  of 
giving  us  very  sweet  flowers  and  perpetual  bloom, 
with  a  considerable  degree  of  hardiness.  Among 
the  best  new  ones  are  Admiral  Dewey,  Admiral 
Schley,  Clara  Watson,  Antoine  Revoire,  White 
Lady,  Mrs.  W.  C.  Whitney,  and  Mad.  Jules  Fin- 
ger. Quite  hardy,  also,  and  exceedingly  fine  are  the 
Madame  Cochet  set  —  the  yellow,  the  white,  the 
red,  and  the  pink  flowering.  If  you  wish  for  three 
exceedingly  fine  and  hardy  climbers,  select  Climb- 
ing Meteor,  Climbing  Wootton,  and  Climbing  Clo- 
thilde Soupert.  The  old  Baltimore  Belle  and  the 
Queen  of  the  Prairies  are  not  quite  hardy  north  of 
Philadelphia.  I  am  obliged  to  lay  them  down  and 
carefully  cover  them  every  winter. 

Any  one  in  the  country  can  grow  lilies  very  liber- 

[212] 


ten]     .  AMONG   THE    FLOWERS 


ally  if  they  know  what  to  do  with  them.  The  Ma- 
donna or  Candidum  lily,  the  old-fashioned  Tiger, 
and  the  Lancifolium  are  most  satisfactory,  most 
hardy,  and  multiply  most  rapidly.  The  Madonna 
and  the  Japanese  lancifolium  should  be  grown  in 
the  same  bed,  for  succession,  the  first  beginning  to 
open  in  early  July,  and  the  latter  about  the  middle 
of  August.  No  language  can  describe  the  glory  of 
these  lilies.  They  need  only  good  garden  soil,  and 
there  must  be  no  manure  near  the  roots.  Much 
mischief  is  done  by  getting  manure  in  contact  with 
the  bulbs.  I  have  had  nine  hundred  Madonna 
blooms  in  a  single  bed  of  a  dozen  feet  in  diameter; 
the  fragrance,  pure,  strong,  and  wholesome,  filled 
my  garden  and  shrubbery.  I  do  not  know  of  any- 
thing more  perfect  than  a  stalk  of  lilies  three  or 
four  feet  tall,  and  crowned  with  five  to  eight  blos- 
soms, each  six  inches  across,  and  waving  perfume 
like  a  censer. 

The  Japan  lancifoliums  are  glorious  in  all  ways, 
and  are  so  easily  grown  that,  like  the  Madonna, 
you  can  plant  them  anywhere.  As  the  bulbs  mul- 
tiply rapidly,  it  is  well  to  plan  for  them  along  your 
grape  rows  in  the  vineyard,  setting  them  where  the 
plow  and  cultivator  will  not  reach  them.     Next  to 

[213] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

these  lilies,  for  general  value  and  easy  culture,  are 
our  native  Canadense  and  varieties.  These  gen- 
erally are  seen  in  moist  meadows,  but  they  do  even 
better  when  transplanted  into  garden  soil  which  is 
deep  and  friable,  and  still  better  if  well  mulched. 
Plant  them  without  manure,  and  six  to  eight  inches 
in  depth.  The  lancifoliums  should  be  set  down 
about  five  inches,  while  the  Madonna,  which  forms 
autumn  leaves,  should  be  set  only  two  or  three  inches 
deep,  so  that  the  leaves  will  spread  over  as  a  winter 
protection.  I  find  but  one  difficulty  in  securing  all 
these  lilies  by  the  thousand;  that  is,  they  are  liable 
to  start  too  early  in  the  spring,  and  get  mowed  down 
by  late  frosts. 

You  will,  of  course,  find  a  good  deal  of  interest  in 
planting  Auratum,  and  Longiflorum,  which  is  a 
variety  of  Easter  lily;  and  there  are  many  more 
very  fine  sorts  which  you  will  find  catalogued,  but 
as  a  rule  you  will  get  better  satisfaction  with  those 
I  have  named  above.  Auratum  should  be  planted 
nine  inches  in  depth,  and  Longiflorum,  which  is  so 
noble  a  lily  that  you  may  well  afford  it  patience  and 
care,  must  be  planted  seven  or  eight  inches  in 
depth. 

Among  perennials,  after  roses  and  lilies  I  place 


ten]  among  the  flowers 


foremost  the  phloxes.  I  do  not  refer  to  the  very  in- 
ferior sorts  which  are  so  common  in  the  country, 
but  to  those  gorgeous  varieties  which  are  being 
propagated  and  slowly  disseminated.  I  have  been 
able,  by  selection,  to  secure  from  my  own  seedlings 
an  array  that  is  the  glory  of  my  grounds  for  three 
months.  Some  varieties  begin  to  open  by  the  first 
of  July;  others  are  not  expanded  until  late  in  Sep- 
tember. Obtain  a  few  choice  seeds,  resolutely 
throwing  away  the  poorer  results,  and  you  are  quite 
certain  of  securing  something  that  will  be  exceed- 
ingly valuable.  Take  my  word  for  it  that  you  will 
have  a  display  which,  for  beauty  and  sweetness,  will 
rival  roses. 

If  the  gladiolus  were  perfume-giving,  it  would  be 
the  ideal  flower  for  country  cottages.  By  planting 
in  succession,  from  April  till  June,  you  can  have 
blossoms  from  July  till  November.  It  multiplies  free- 
ly, and  will  generally  prove  hardy  in  the  soil  through 
winter.  Some  of  the  varieties,  hybrids  of  ramosus, 
need  never  be  lifted  except  to  divide  the  roots.  In 
fact,  I  am  not  sure  but  that  some  of  the  most  mag- 
nificent sorts  will  get  to  be  a  nuisance  simply  from 
their  persistence,  hardiness,  and  rapid  increase. 
Standing  erect,  the  gladiolus  needs  only  a  few  inches 

[215] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chaptek 


of  space,  and  for  that  reason  can  be  planted  in  beds 
largely  occupied  by  other  plants.  My  choice  for 
a  gladiolus  bed  would  be  borders,  about  three  feet 
wide,  with  evergreen  backing  —  beds  in  which  we 
may  grow  our  hyacinths  in  early  spring,  and  some 
of  the  choicest  early  tulips.  Here  the  stalks  can 
be  tied  to  wires  or  to  stakes.  The  array  of  new 
sorts  is  more  gorgeous  and  bewildering  every  year. 
There  is  nothing  more  startling,  to  a  person  who 
has  grown  gladioli  since  the  first  improvements 
about  1850,  than  the  evolution  that  has  gone  on. 
I  am  growing  some  superb  strains  that  sweep 
through  nearly  the  whole  gamut  of  colors,  includ- 
ing blue.  You  can  buy  the  bulbs  by  the  hundred 
from  our  large  growers,  at  a  very  low  rate,  so  that 
the  gladiolus  constitutes  a  particularly  valuable 
flower  for  one  who  is  just  beginning  country  life. 

For  autumn  flowering  I  have  great  satisfaction 
in  growing  pansies  from  seed  sown  in  boxes  in 
April  and  transplanted  to  borders  not  too  sunny. 
While  the  earlier  pansies  are  liable  to  exhaust  them- 
selves during  the  summer,  these  later  productions 
give  their  glory  in  September  and  October.  An- 
other autumn  flowering  plant  that  should  be  in- 
cluded in  a  small  collection  is  the  scarlet  sage  or 

[216] 


ten]  among  the  flowers 


salvia.  Set  it  in  a  cool,  loose  soil,  and  you  will  find 
the  brilliant  scarlet  most  comfortable  as  the 
weather  passes  away  from  the  heat  of  summer.  It 
is  well  to  have  a  few  plants  standing  singly  and  con- 
spicuous —  even  in  your  vegetable  garden.  I  espe- 
cially admire  a  long  border  or  hedge  of  this  magnif- 
icent flower.  It  will  succumb  to  a  snapping  frost, 
and  for  that  reason  it  would  be  well  to  have  a  few 
plants  growing  in  pots.  Among  our  autumn  flow- 
ering plants  the  cosmos  is  valuable  and  easily 
grown.  I  have  sometimes  had  difficulty  in  getting 
it  into  perfect  bloom  before  freezing  weather.  The 
anemones  are  not  open  to  this  objection,  because 
they  will  endure  a  very  decided  freezing.  Along 
the  border  of  your  autumn  corner  be  sure  to  have 
a  few  plants  of  hellebore,  or  Christmas  rose. 
This  will  defy  the  frosts  of  November,  and  will 
frequently  lift  its  blossoms  right  through  three 
or  four  inches  of  snow. 

Admire  bulbs,  bedding  plants,  biennials,  and  an- 
nuals according  to  taste,  yet  the  average  country 
home  will  rely,  and  ought  to  rely,  chiefly  for  its 
floral  display  on  blossoming  shrubs.  These  we  have 
not  yet  more  than  begun  to  develop  and  appreciate. 
Our  woodsides,  our  swales,  our   forest   openings 

[217] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chaptkr 


and  pastures  contain  varieties  that  are  seldom  seen 
about  our  houses.  Some  of  these  are  overlooked 
only  because  common.  I  have  discussed  them  suf- 
ficiently in  another  chapter  on  lawns  and  shrub- 
beries, and  here  I  refer  to  them  only  for  their 
flowers  and  their  fitness  for  winter  foliage.  The 
world  holds  nothing  finer  than  those  fringes  along 
the  forests  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Vir- 
ginia, where  the  laurels  and  the  rhododendrons  in- 
terweave their  arms  over  hundreds  of  acres,  and 
seem  to  begrudge  room  for  other  shrubs  equally 
glorious.  Along  the  Susquehanna  nature  has 
miles  of  gardens  finer  than  those  of  the  Tuileries. 
I  have  looked  down  the  mountain-sides  of  Penn- 
sylvania over  such  vast  fields  of  flowers  that  I  have 
felt  the  utter  impotence  of  any  landscape  artist  to 
plant  a  garden.  You  must  learn  to  see  the  beauty 
of  what  is  common.  You  will  be  especially  inter- 
ested in  studying  the  variations  in  every-day  shrubs 
—  in  growth  and  in  bloom.  I  have  found  a  superb 
weeping  choke  cherry,  and  although  weeping 
things  are  mostly  morbid  freaks  of  nature  not  to  be 
multiplied,  this  is  elegant  both  in  form  and  fruit. 
It  is  constantly  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  shrubs, 
when  once  planted,  make  comparatively  little  work, 

[218] 


ten]  among  the  flowers 


which  is  more  than  we  can  say  of  our  bulbs,  our 
tubers,  and  our  bedding  plants.  You  have  to  keep 
out  deadwood  and  feeble  suckers,  and  mulch  well, 
and  your  bushes  give  you  sure  compensation. 
Whether  you  grow  them  for  flowers,  or  simply  to 
constitute  a  shrubbery,  remember  that  simplicity, 
and  not  formal  stifl^ness,  is  your  guide  in  trimming. 
At  this  point  I  propose  to  make  a  list  of  flowers, 
as  I  did  of  fruits,  for  the  laborer's  cottage,  where 
the  space  for  flowers  must  be  unusually  limited,  yet 
where  flowers  are  needed  to  lighten  and  enlighten 
life  as  they  are  nowhere  else.  Around  your  door 
and  over  your  porch  run  Crimson  Rambler  roses, 
and  with  them  the  wild  native  clematis  and  its  im- 
proved variety,  paniculata.  Make  room  for  these 
roses  very  near  the  door  —  Hermosa,  Balduin, 
Clothilde  Soupert,  Gen.  Mac  Arthur,  Gen.  Jacque- 
minot, and  Meteor.  They  will  take  but  little 
room  and  but  little  care.  On  the  other  side  of  your 
doorway  a  bush  of  old  Cinnamon  rose,  or,  better 
yet,  one  of  the  Scotch  roses,  will  be  a  perennial 
delight.  No  one  is  too  poor  or  too  busy  to  grow 
tulips,  as  I  have  suggested,  in  the  berry  gardens. 
In  this  way  the  plainest  laborer's  cottage  can  have 
great  masses   of  color  and   sweetness  at  no  cost 

[219] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


worth  the  mention,  and  may  even  make  the  sale  of 
bulbs  a  matter  of  income.  Of  perennials,  make  a 
great  deal  of  phloxes  and  larkspurs.  In  addition 
to  the  old-fashioned  lilacs  and  mock  oranges,  you 
can  at  least  collect  some  of  the  native  shrubs, 
which  will  beautify  your  street  side  and  your  fence 
line.  Any  one  may  glorify  his  cheap  homestead 
with  Tartarian  honeysuckles,  barberry  bushes,  and 
high-bush  cranberry.  These  constitute  a  triplet  of 
beauty  through  the  larger  part  of  the  year. 

I  have  noticed  that  the  poorer  classes  of  country 
residents  are  fond  of  the  dahlia.  They  like  sym- 
metry, and  the  lesson  is  a  good  one  to  teach  order 
and  carefulness  about  the  household  and  the  lot. 
These  can  be  grown  near  the  kitchen  door,  and 
will  render  innocuous  a  place  which  would  be  other- 
wise a  sink-hole  for  slops.  If  now  you  can  go  far- 
ther and  spend  a  little  time  upon  bedding  plants, 
above  all  buy  a  dozen  geraniums  in  the  spring, 
when  they  can  be  got  for  a  very  small  sum,  plant 
them  in  almost  any  garden  soil,  and  surround 
them  with  asters,  petunias,  or  pansies.  Instead  of 
leaving  your  pig-pen  to  be  a  nuisance,  slant  up  be- 
hind it  a  trellis  for  sweet  peas.  I  am  especially 
anxious  that  around  your  barn  shall  grow  grape- 
[  2^^o  ] 


ten]  among  the  flowers 


vines,  in  order  to  add  largely  to  your  profits  and  to 
your  food;  yet  with  these  it  is  not  impossible  to 
twine,  without  detriment  to  the  fruit,  a  good  num- 
ber of  climbing  roses.  Over  stone  piles  let  a  bitter- 
sweet grow;  and  if  you  have  stone  fences,  it  will 
take  very  little  labor  to  start  in  growth,  beside  them, 
Virginia  creepers.  In  this  way,  by  simple  devices, 
the  plainest  homestead,  where  money  income  does 
not  exceed  four  hundred  dollars  a  year,  may  be 
glorified  so  as,  first  of  all,  to  strike  a  visitor  for  its 
beauty.  At  the  same  time  your  windbreaks  — 
which  should  never  be  forgotten  —  may  be  a  com- 
bination of  the  beautiful  and  the  useful  in  the  way 
of  crab-apple  trees  and  mountain  ash,  while  under 
the  shelter  of  a  Tartarian  honeysuckle  hedge  stands 
half  a  dozen  bee  hives,  which  shall  add  a  generous 
quota  to  your  comfort  and  to  your  profit. 

A  country  home  can  rarely  indulge  in  costly 
palms  and  similar  decorations  for  the  winter.  It 
is  not  necessary,  because  a  few  fresh  bouquets  of 
Christmas  roses,  with  clippings  from  your  bar- 
berries and  your  evergreen  mahonia  and  your  hem- 
lock hedge  will  carry  you  well  into  midwinter. 
Our  best  preparation  for  the  white  months  is  to  dig 
a  few  of  our  common  May-flowering  shrubs  in 

[221] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


November,  place  them  in  a  cool  cellar  or  out-build- 
ing for  a  few  weeks,  and  then,  as  needed,  bring 
them  into  the  house.  It  is  not  necessary  that  these 
shall  have  anything  more  than  simple  boxes  to 
hold  them  during  their  residence  in  the  kitchen  or 
family  room.  After  three  or  four  weeks  of  wait- 
ing in  a  sunny  window  they  will  burst  out  into 
bloom  quite  as  gloriously  as  in  May  when  out  of 
doors.  The  best  shrubs  for  this  forcing  purpose 
are  the  common  lilacs,  some  of  the  spireas,  the 
mock  oranges,  the  deutzias,  and  the  Judas  tree. 
The  Japan  Judas  tree,  and  some  other  half -tender 
shrubs  which  will  not  blossom  in  our  open  grounds 
can  thus  be  made  very  useful.  About  three  weeks 
before  you  desire  bloom,  bring  a  plant,  well-boxed 
and  watered,  into  a  warm,  light  room.  Keep  it 
well  watered  and  occasionally  turned  before  the 
window,  and  the  buds  will  soon  begin  to  show 
themselves.  I  have  lilacs  in  midwinter  that  per- 
fume the  whole  house.  The  yellow-flowered  ribes, 
or  native  currant,  is  specially  good  for  our  purpose, 
and  is  very  floriferous. 

After  the  flowers  have  decayed,  set  the  boxes  back 
into  the  cellar,  and  in  the  spring  into  the  ground. 
It  will  take  a  year  of  recuperation  before  they  will 

[222] 


TEN]  AMONG   THE   FLOWERS 


again  be  strong  enough  to  make  flower  buds  and 
be  fit  for  another  winter  forcing.  Of  course  we 
have  to  select  small  bushes,  and  this  is  our  chief 
trouble.  Lilac  bushes  are  generally  too  large,  or 
else  mere  suckers,  but  a  row  of  these  can  be  had  in 
preparation  along  the  side  of  your  garden.  It  is 
not  quite  easy  to  determine  flower  buds  from  leaf 
buds  on  the  lilac,  but  as  a  rule  flower  buds  are 
much  rounder  and  fuller.  In  addition  to  shrubs, 
be  sure  to  dig  one  or  two  clumps  of  hemerocallis 
fulva,  or  yellow  day-lily.  This  plant  is  peculiarly 
good  for  forcing.  It  gives  a  succession  of  richly- 
perfumed,  lemon-yellow  flowers  during  a  full 
month  or  six  weeks.  I  have  had  over  eighty  flow- 
ers, in  succession,  upon  a  single  box.  The  frag- 
rance is  delightful  at  any  season,  but  most  charm- 
ing in  winter. 

I  suppose  you  will  be  admirers  and  lovers  of  the 
hyacinth.  I  am  not  quite  an  enthusiast  to  agree 
with  you.  I  very  much  prefer  the  tulip,  although 
the  latter  does  not  so  easily  develop  its  beauty  in 
the  winter.  The  best  possible  treatment  of  bulbs 
for  winter  is  to  place  them  in  pots  according  to  their 
size,  and  then  plunge  the  pots  in  the  garden  soil,  an 
inch  or  more  below  the  surface.     Be  sure  to  select 

[223] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


a  place  where  water  cannot  settle  around  the  pots. 
Leave  them  there  until  you  find  by  examination 
that  the  roots  have  well  filled  the  pots,  which  ought 
to  occur  within  four  to  six  weeks,  sometimes 
sooner.  If  freezing  weather  sets  in,  cover  with  straw 
or  litter,  and  boards  over  that.  When  you  are 
ready  for  bloom,  bring  the  pots  into  a  warm  room 
and  water  freely ;  it  will  need  another  month  to  fully 
develop  the  flowers.  Be  regular  about  applying 
the  water,  but  never  allow  it  to  remain  in  the  sau- 
cer. It  is  not  diflBcult  to  produce  a  sickly  condi- 
tion of  plant  roots,  especially  bulb  roots,  if  they 
must  remain  over-saturated. 

House  plants  are  as  good  as  house  doctors,  if 
properly  treated,  but  water-logged  or  half -rotten 
plants  are  disease-breeders,  and  should  never  be 
permitted  to  remain  in  the  same  room  with  human 
beings.  The  pot  in  which  plants  are  grown  should 
be  cleaned  inside  and  out,  and  should  never  be  al- 
lowed to  develop  fungus  growth,  while  the  soil 
should  be  pure  and  sweet.  The  use  of  dirt  taken 
from  a  half-fermented  pile  of  compost  is  danger- 
ous. It  will  kill  your  plants,  and  it  will  certainly 
poison  yourself.  Many  a  mysterious  illness  comes 
from  carelessness  about  house  plants.  Nothing  can, 

[224] 


TEN]  AMONG   THE    FLOWERS 


however,  be  more  valuable,  from  a  sanitary  stand- 
point, than  a  few  clean,  healthy,  and  growing  plants. 
They  use  up  the  carbon  gases,  just  as  outdoor 
plants  do,  and  they  give  out,  for  our  use,  oxygen 
and  ozone. 

Next  to  shrubs  for  winter  decoration  and  enjoy- 
ment, I  hold  the  most  delightful  house  plants  are 
dwarf-growing  oranges,  lemons,  and  other  fruit- 
bearing  plants.  One  of  the  best  of  these  is  the 
Otaheite  orange,  a  mere  bush  of  three  feet  in  height, 
but  constantly  covered  with  oranges  in  all  stages 
of  growth,  and  with  exceedingly  sweet  flowers. 
Unfortunately,  this  orange  is  worthless  for  eating. 
Still  better  is  the  American  Wonder  lemon,  bear- 
ing a  fruit  four  or  five  times  the  size  of  a  common 
lemon,  and  of  the  highest  quality  for  use.  The 
flowers  on  this  little  tree,  of  three  feet  in  height,  are 
twice  the  size  of  orange  blossoms,  and  exceedingly 
sweet.  If  confined  to  a  single  house  plant,  I 
believe  I  would  select  this  one.  The  Krumquat 
orange  is  a  beautiful  small  tree,  of  less  than  two 
feet  in  height,  very  compact  and  handsome  in 
growth,  bearing  an  edible  fruit  and  giving  us  very 
sweet  flowers.  You  can  also  grow  the  guava  in 
pots,   and   will  get  from  it  a  profusion  of  sweet 

[223] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


flowers,  and  very  nice  small,  edible  fruit.  All  of 
these  give  you  not  only  flowers  and  fruit,  but  health- 
ful odors,  and  foliage  which  is  the  perfection  of 
shining  green.  The  dwarf  oranges  hang  on  two 
or  three  years,  so  that  you  have  flowers  with  green 
fruit  and  yellow  fruit  at  the  same  time.  Alto- 
gether, I  do  not  know  of  anything  that  I  should 
recommend  to  a  farmer's  wife  as  more  available 
for  house  plants  than  these  tropical  fruits.  They 
will  endure  the  air  of  almost  any  room,  and  do  not 
require  high  temperature. 

After  these,  my  choice  among  house  plants  just 
now  turns  toward  fuchsias  and  pelargoniums. 
However,  the  real  joy  of  growing  plants  is  the 
chance  of  changing  our  tastes.  "Bless  the  Lord," 
says  Aunt  Cynthia,  "I  ain't  forgotten  to  change, 
and  I  spects  to  change;  and  when  I  ain't  changing 
no  more,  I  spects  to  be  daid."  With  the  pelargo- 
nium and  fuchsia  I  need  a  pot  of  heliotrope,  and  I 
like  a  plenty  of  nasturtiums,  and  am  then  content. 
The  pelargoniums,  known  as  Lady  Washingtons, 
are  no  longer  confined  to  that  variety,  but  exist  in  su- 
perb sorts  —  some  of  them  double  and  others  semi- 
double.  They  should  be  started  from  cuttings  of 
ripe  wood,  then  slowly  shifted   to  give  their  first 

[226] 


TEN]  AMONG  THE  FLOWERS 


blossoms  in  six  or  seven  inch  pots.  In  midsum- 
mer lay  them  flat  on  their  sides,  out  of  doors,  under 
a  tree.  Let  them  sleep  for  two  or  three  months, 
then  wake  them  up,  and  shift,  until  they  stand  in 
twelve  inch  pots.  They  must  stand  in  full  sun- 
shine while  growing,  and  must  be  abundantly 
watered,  if  you  wish  to  see  them  in  their  glory.  I 
bring  them  into  the  house  in  September.  When 
well  grown,  they  should  stand  from  three  to  five 
feet  in  height,  and  two  feet  in  diameter.  For  sev- 
eral months  you  will  have  a  gorgeous  show  of  the 
richest  colors  —  butterfly-like.  I  like  fuchsias  be- 
cause they  can  be  set  a  little  farther  back  from  the 
light,  and  because  their  blossoms  are  continuous 
—  provided  they  are  well  supplied  with  water  dur- 
ing growth.  Another  essential  point  is  to  keep  the 
seed-pods  picked  off.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
bring  these  plants  into  the  house  in  a  clean  condi- 
tion, free  from  aphis  and  scale. 

For  vines  in  a  window  there  are  few  things 
better  than  the  Hoya  carnosa,  or  wax-plant. 
This  should  cover  a  very  large  space,  and  should 
very  rarely  be  shifted  after  it  has  reached  a 
six  or  seven  inch  pot.  Once  in  five  or  six 
years    is  quite    often   enough  to  change  pot   and 

[227] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


dirt.  1  have  had  them  cover  the  whole  ceiling 
of  a  small  conservatory,  giving  two  or  three  hun- 
dred clusters  in  a  season.  When  the  individual 
flowers  drop,  the  flower  stem  must  not  be  plucked ; 
for  out  of  the  same  stem  will  come  the  next  year's 
flowers.  The  perfume  is  given  out  only  at  night, 
but  then  it  will  fill  your  house.  It  is  a  marvel  in 
the  way  of  rich,  thick  leafage  and  wax-like  flowers. 
The  morning-glories  and  tropseolums  also  are  ex- 
cellent vines  for  temporary  use.  They  will  give 
abundance  of  bloom,  with  little  care. 

A  few  good  roses  may  be  tried  by  those  who  have 
abundance  of  room  and  are  careful  to  exterminate 
insects.  Among  the  best  varieties  for  winter  bloom 
are  Balduin,  Golden  Gate,  La  France,  The  Bride, 
Mrs.  Robert  Garrett,  Souvenir  de  Wootton,  Ma- 
dame Hoste,  Hermosa.  If  you  care  to  have  your 
geraniums  blossom  in  the  winter,  you  must  keep 
them  in  pots,  and  plunge  these  in  the  ground.  Cut 
the  plants  back  somewhat  in  August,  and  lift  them 
with  care,  keeping  them  for  the  month  of  October 
in  a  cool  room;  and  in  winter  they  must  have  full 
sunshine. 

The  best  remedy  that  I  know  of  for  plant  lice 
and  most  other  troublesome  pests,  is  the  free  use  of 

[2281 


ten]  among  the  flowers 

sulpho-tobacco  soap.  This  is  a  cheap,  effective, 
and  harmless  insecticide,  and  is  as  good  on  plants 
out  of  doors  as  indoors.  It  is  a  first-rate  insect 
exterminator. 

Before  closing  this  chapter,  I  must  not  overlook 
a  few  suggestions  and  general  hints.  Arrange  your 
annuals  so  as  to  keep  up  a  continuance  of  bloom 
in  all  parts  of  your  garden.  Just  at  present  one  of 
my  arrangements  is  to  grow  my  sweet  williams  in 
rows,  and  far  enough  apart  to  allow  rows  of  asters 
between.  The  asters  will  begin  to  blossom  after 
the  sweet  williams  are  out  of  bloom.  I  assure  you 
that  we  have  few  things  finer  than  such  a  bed. 
Pansies  will  do  a  lot  of  nice  work  along  the  borders 
of  beds,  and  that  is  the  place  also  for  mignonette 
and  sweet  alyssum.  Nasturtiums  I  alternate  with 
hollyhocks,  besides  thrusting  the  big  seeds  in  al- 
most anywhere  that  there  is  likely  to  be  a  lack  of 
blossoms.  When  the  hollyhocks  are  through  blos- 
soming, cut  off  the  stalks,  or  the  forming  of  seeds 
will  use  up  vitality  and  kill  the  plants.  Soon  your 
nasturtiums  will  spread  a  carpet  of  glorious  color 
and  sweetness,  and  hide  the  stumps.  My  chief  bed 
of  nasturtiums  is  always  on  a  spot  that  is  least 
manured,    and    naturally   barren.     On   poor   soil 

[  ^2^29  ] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


they  run  to  flowers,  but  on  good  soil  they  run  to 
vines.  It  is  a  proverb  with  me  that  in  spring  you 
cannot  get  too  many  daffodils,  and  in  summer  and 
autumn  you  cannot  get  too  many  nasturtiums.  I 
occasionally  indulge  in  stocks,  and  wall-flowers, 
and  petunias,  but  I  am  writing  for  those  who  want 
lots  of  flowers  without  having  to  work  too  hard  to 
get  them.  Snapdragons  are  fine  for  late  bloom, 
and  sweet  alyssum. 

Try  each  year  one  or  two  of  the  new  novelties 
—  and  occasionally  you  will  be  glad  that  you  did. 
You  should  have  a  dahlia  craze,  or  canna  craze, 
or  a  carnation  fever  about  once  in  five  years; 
and  when  you  do  you  should  do  your  very  best 
with  these  noble  plants.  Begonias  are  even  better 
for  a  cottage  home.  I  append  a  list  of  eleven 
flowering  begonias,  which  I  conceive  to  be  among 
the  very  best:  Alba  picta,  argentea  guttata,  gloire 
de  Lorraine,  decorus,  dewdrop,  vernon,  rubra 
Sandersonii,  President  Carnot,  robusta,  hybrida 
multiflora,  Bismarck.  A  list  of  fifteen  ever- 
blooming  cannas  may  be  of  use  to  some  of  my 
readers.  I  should  select  as  the  finest  that  I  have 
ever  grown,  Austria,  Alsace,  Alphonse  Bouvier, 
Charles   Henderson,   Florence   Vaughn,   Duke  of 

[  230  ] 


ten]  among  the  flowers 


Marlborough,  Egandale,  Italia,  Madame  Crozy, 
Maiden's  Blush,  President  McKinley,  Queen  Char- 
lotte, Philadelphia,  Souv.  de  Antoine  Crozy,  Tarry- 
town,  For  carnations,  I  should  certainly  prefer, 
for  a  quiet  home  garden,  to  get  seed  of  the  old- 
fashioned  clove  pink —  which  is  a  carnation.  You 
will  get  from  this  seed  a  thoroughly  satisfactory  set 
of  plants,  the  flowers  of  which  give  that  most 
delightful  spicy  odor,  from  which  comes  the  name 
clove.  I  have  nothing  in  my  garden  that  I  prefer 
to  my  clove  carnations. 

We  have  had  a  pleasant  ramble  together,  and  a 
chat  among  our  flowers ;  there  is  still  time  for  a  turn 
in  the  vineyard  before  dinner.  Grapes  are  delicious 
after  smelling  the  lilies  and  enjoying  friendship. 
We  have  found  in  reality  that  flowers  are  sown 
by  nature  everywhere  over  a  country  place.  My 
Gladys  insists  upon  a  plot  for  wild  asters  and 
golden  rod.  These  grow  by  themselves  in  a  gar- 
den corner,  if  let  alone.  As  your  family  increases, 
your  house  and  your  home  will  grow.  One  of  the 
boys  or  girls  may  take  to  water  lilies,  cypripedium, 
cardinal  flowers,  fringed  gentian,  ferns  —  and  so 
create  in  some  shaded  nook  a  native  wild  garden. 
Here  will  be  a  cool  delight  in  the  hot  days  of  July 

[231] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

and  August,  under  the  trees,  and  out  of  publicity 
^  a  place  for  rustic  stone  seats;  and  we  hope  a 
brook  is  within  hearing.  Here  go,  of  a  noonday, 
and  let  the  ripple  of  the  water  show  you  how  to 
take  your  cares  for  better,  not  worse,  and  how  to 
keep  your  work  going  to  music. 

Perhaps  another  one  of  the  family  will  take 
to  cross-breeding,  and  you  will  find  his  bed  of 
seedling  phloxes,  or  of  seedling  geraniums,  or  of 
seedlings  something  else,  a  marvel  of  creation ;  and 
assuredly  his  groups  of  new  shrubs  will  be  a  joy 
forever.  This  is  the  grandest  power  of  man  —  to 
create  new  things  —  and  it  ought  to  be  a  part  of 
family  life  everywhere  in  the  country. 


[232] 


CHAPTER    ELEVEN 
COME   AND   SEE   MY   CABBAGES 


1  HE  vegetable  garden  is  not,  or  it  need  not  be, 
less  beautiful  than  the  flower  garden  —  certainly 
not  less  interesting.  I  am  sure  that  my  rows  of  hy- 
brid beans,  clinging  to  poles  eight  feet  high,  and  a 
mass  of  silver-white  pods,  six  to  eight  inches  long, 
and  three  in  circumference,  have  inherently  the 
combined  beauty  of  nature  and  art.  A  row  of 
Savoy  cabbages,  with  exquisitely  fretted  leaves  and 
heads  of  solid  lusciousness,  is  both  picturesque 
and  suggestive  of  winter's  comfort.  The  old- 
fashioned  vegetable  garden  included  herbs  and 
nasturtiums,  and  marigolds  and  johnny-jump-ups. 
Gradually  these  have  gone,  mostly  over  to  the 
flower  garden;  and  it  is  just  as  well,  for  there  is 
poetry  in  potatoes,  and  lots  of  sentiment  in  Brussels 
sprouts  and  carrots.  There  are  no  sprays  for  your 
bouquets  to  surpass  carrot  leaves,  and  I  do  not  re- 
call any  prettier  sight  than  a  row  of  blossoming 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [ch.\pter 

peas.  As  for  corn,  the  world  does  not  hold  any- 
thing that  is  nobler  in  the  way  of  foliage  than  the 
waving  leaves  and  tassels  of  this  glory  of  New 
World  vegetation.  Harriet  Martineau,  traveling 
through  the  United  States  in  1835,  notes:  "This 
day,  I  remember,  we  first  tasted  green  corn,  one  of 
the  most  delicious  of  vegetables,  and  by  some  pre- 
ferred to  green  peas.  The  greatest  drawback  is 
the  way  in  which  it  is  necessary  to  eat  it.  The  cob, 
eight  or  ten  inches  long,  is  held  at  both  ends,  and, 
having  been  previously  sprinkled  with  salt,  is  nib- 
bled and  sucked  from  end  to  end,  till  all  the  grains 
are  got  out.  It  looks  awkward  enough,  but  what  is 
to  be  done  ?  Surrendering  such  a  vegetable  from 
consideration  of  grace  is  not  to  be  thought  of." 
The  Egyptians  associated  the  onion  with  religious 
metaphysics  and  the  hope  of  immortality. 

The  vegetable  garden  to  be  a  delight  must  be 
worked  with  horse-power.  Our  fathers  inherited 
the  spade  and  the  hoe,  but  there  were  no  digging 
forks  in  those  days,  and  the  plow  was  made  of 
wood.  Because  English  gardens  were  spaded. 
New  England  gardens  were  necessarily  made  in  the 
same  way.  Heredity  is  nowhere  harder  to  over- 
come than  in  methods  of  land  tillage.     At  last  a 

[234] 


COKX,    THIS    tiLOHY    OK    .NEW    WORLD   VEGETATION 


eleven]      come   and   see   MY   CABBAGES 


fork  was  invented  for  digging,  and  the  plow  was 
made  of  steel  —  after  which  it  occurred  to  the  gar- 
dener that  he  could  avoid  most  of  his  back-break- 
ing work,  and  get  better  tilth,  as  well  as  more  beets 
and  turnips,  by  using  a  horse.  This  change  of 
tools  threw  the  garden  open,  instead  of  keeping  it 
surrounded  with  hedges,  and  quite  changed  its 
character.  It  is  now  adjacent  to  the  corn  and  po- 
tato fields,  instead  of  being  an  adjunct  of  the 
kitchen  and  flower  garden.  The  horse  does  the 
work  of  ten  men,  and  does  it  better.  The  farmer 
does  not  grow  stoop-shouldered,  and  Markham's 
"Man  with  the  Hoe"  becomes  a  slander. 

In  a  small  place  of  five  or  ten  acres  it  will  not  pay 
you  to  undertake  to  grow  all  sorts  of  vegetables, 
unless  you  devote  yourself  to  truck  farming.  There 
are  very  few  gardens  in  New  England  and  the  Mid- 
dle States,  outside  of  the  Connecticut  valley  and 
similar  locations,  where  onions  can  be  grown  as 
cheaply  as  they  can  be  bought.  If  you  are  crowded 
for  room,  or  short  of  help,  do  not  even  under- 
take your  own  cabbages,  while  cauliflower  needs 
special  care  and  extra  good  culture.  I  have  lately 
found  it  cheaper  to  buy  my  celery  of  experts.  This 
hint  is  quite  important,  for  there  is  a  knack  in 

[  ^^35  ] 


THE    COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 

knowing  what  not  to  grow,  as  well  as  what  to  grow 
—  what  to  drop  out  of  culture  in  our  gardens  as  well 
as  out  of  our  vineyards  and  orchards.  Egg  plants 
are  much  relished  at  my  table,  but  I  have  never 
succeeded  in  growing  them  without  so  much  trou- 
ble that  I  prefer  to  buy.  A  few  peppers  I  would 
have  for  their  beauty,  even  if  I  did  not  desire  to  use 
them.  I  do  not  say  to  an  enthusiast,  who  has  right 
soil  and  enough  time.  Do  not  undertake  to  grow  a 
row  of  celery  or  a  plot  of  onions ;  only  this,  Do  not 
undertake  it  unless  you  have  right  soil  and  plenty 
of  time. 

The  three  essentials  of  a  country  garden  are,  in 
succession,  sweet  corn,  string  beans  —  with  shell 
beans  —  and  green  peas.  This  is  the  trinity  of  table 
luxury.  People  who  live  in  cities  rarely  ever  taste 
any  of  these  in  their  choicest  varieties  and  fresh 
from  the  field.  I  would  go  to  the  country  to  live, 
if  for  nothing  else,  to  find  out  what  corn,  peas,  and 
beans  can  be  at  their  best.  They  are  not  only  the 
three  most  delicious,  but  the  three  most  valuable 
vegetables  for  food.  To  secure  them  in  succession, 
plant  as  early  as  possible  in  April,  and  then  plant 
successively  until  the  middle  of  June.  Late-planted 
peas  will  almost  always  mildew,  and  corn  cannot 

[236  ] 


ELEVEN]      COME   AND   SEE   MY   CABBAGES 


come  forward  for  table  use  if  planted  after  the 
middle  of  June.  My  plan  is  to  put  in  not  less  than 
four  distinct  strips  of  each  of  these  three  superb  veg- 
etables. Among  the  earliest  corns  are  Cory,  Metro- 
politan, and  Minnesota  —  all  delicious,  while  for 
later  planting  there  is  nothing  to  surpass  Country 
Gentleman.  However,  I  use  my  own  crossbreds, 
secured  by  hybridizing  black  Egyptian  with  several 
of  the  sweetest  of  the  white  sorts. 

String  beans,  as  known  in  city  markets,  are  a 
mussy  affair,  but  in  my  judgment  the  very  best  of 
the  varieties  of  our  string  beans  constitute  a  vege- 
table very  little,  if  any,  behind  sweet  corn.  Here 
also  I  grow  only  my  own  hybrids,  of  the  Horticul- 
tural with  the  Lima.  These  can  be  had  from  July 
until  November.  Break  down  a  few  poles  when 
the  frost  threatens,  and  throw  over  the  vines  straw, 
or  hay,  or  matting.  Occasionally  lift  this  cover- 
ing to  allow  a  touch  of  the  sun,  and  in  this  way  you 
will  prolong  this  delicious  vegetable  a  whole  month 
or  six  weeks.  The  Lima  bean  is,  of  course,  the 
king  of  all,  yet  some  of  the  crosses  are  very  good 
rivals,  and  they  are  earlier,  as  well  as  later.  No  one 
in  the  country  should  remain  ignorant  of  the  great 
improvement  that  has  gone  on  with  the  Lima.  The 

[237] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


King  of  the  Garden  is  far  superior  to  the  old  sort, 
having  pods  twice  as  large,  containing  more  and 
better  beans.  Another  magnificent  sort  is  Ford's 
Mammoth-Podded.  It  is  rightly  named,  and 
yields  immense  crops.  There  are  also  two  or 
three  very  early  sorts;  among  these  Henderson's 
Improved  Early  Leviathan  is  one  of  the  best.  The 
dwarf  Limas  do  not  suit  my  taste,  but  in  many 
cases  they  ought  to  be  grown  by  preference  ^  es- 
pecially where  it  is  an  object  to  avoid  the  labor  of 
setting  poles. 

For  a  thoroughly  good  list  of  peas,  for  succession, 
select  for  very  early,  Alaska,  and  Gradus  or  Pros- 
perity; for  later,  plant  Hero  or  Heroine,  with  Im- 
proved Pride  of  the  Market.  The  Improved  Tele- 
phone is  another  excellent  improvement,  and  in 
growth  is  stouter  than  the  old  Telephone.  This 
list  is  simply  given  you  as  a  good  one,  although  you 
may  make  one  nearly  or  quite  as  good  without  in- 
cluding any  of  these.  As  a  rule,  avoid  both  the 
quite  dwarf  and  the  very  tall ;  the  first  because  they 
will  give  very  few  pods,  without  peculiarly  good 
culture,  and  the  latter  because  they  will  require 
the  expense  and  labor  of  brushing.  Select  those 
that  grow  about  two  or  two  and  a  half   feet  high, 

[238] 


eleven]      come    and   see   MY   CABBAGES 


and  so  can  get  on  without  brushing,  while  they 
will  yield  abundantly.  The  points  of  a  prime  pea 
are  sweetness,  thin  skin,  and  prolific  bearing. 

Beans,  peas,  and  corn,  all  alike  decline  to  con- 
fine their  service  to  man  to  their  green  state.  Some 
of  the  best  ears  of  your  sweet  corn  should  be  trussed 
up  for  parching  in  winter.  After  parching,  grind 
the  kernels  in  a  coffee  mill,  and  eat  with  milk  and 
sugar.  It  is  quite  equal  to  most  of  the  costly 
cereals,  and  it  is  a  very  inexpensive  food.  Split 
peas  should  constitute  a  very  large  element  in  fam- 
ily diet,  being  wholesome  and  nutritious.  As  for 
baked  beans,  why  speak  of  them  to  sons  of  New 
Englanders  ?  Yet  I  find  that  very  few  know  that 
dried  Lima  beans  are,  for  baking,  far  superior  to 
the  common  beans.  After  soaking,  you  may  easily 
rub  off  the  skins,  then  boil  down  for  soup,  or  bake. 
In  this  state  they  may  be  eaten  by  invalids,  the 
skin  of  the  bean  alone  being  a  hindrance  to  diges- 
tion. A  well-ordered  family  should  make  a  very 
generous  use  of  corn  meal,  of  boiled  or  baked  beans, 
and  of  boiled  or  baked  peas.  All  of  them  can  be 
made  into  puddings  and  pies. 

If  you  have  good,  loose  soil,  in  a  limestone  district, 
be  sure  to  grow  your  own  early  potatoes,  however 

[ii39] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

small  your  homestead.  It  is  not  once  in  five  times 
that  I  can  buy  potatoes  without  they  bring  the 
flavor  that  comes  from  having  been  left  too  long  in 
the  sun,  or  the  flavor  of  rancid  soil.  Potatoes  even 
slightly  sun-burned  are  bitter  and  poisonous.  You 
will  find  it  one  of  your  country  luxuries  to  be  able 
to  dig  a  pailful  every  morning,  fresh  from  the  soil ; 
nor  will  you  be  long  in  discovering  that,  as  with 
peas  and  beans,  so  with  potatoes  there  is  a  vast 
dissimilarity  in  the  value  of  different  varieties.  You 
will  soon  become  a  vegetable  connoisseur.  You 
will  taste  and  compare  potatoes  as  you  do  pears 
and  plums,  and  after  that  you  will  learn  also  that 
some  varieties  are  much  more  digestible  than  others. 
From  this  you  will  learn  how  to  cook  them  cor- 
rectly—  always  in  their  jackets.  Potatoes,  like 
apples,  soon  absorb  bad  odors,  and  you  will  learn 
that  your  potato  cellar  must  be  clean  and  sweet  as 
your  dining-room.  There  are  many  such  things  to 
be  found  out  about  a  country  home.  I  will  not 
undertake  a  list  of  potatoes  for  you  to  experiment 
with,  because  new  ones  are  sent  out  each  year 
and  we  are  liable  to  have  at  any  time  an  im- 
provement. I  confess  to  a  liking  for  a  strong- 
flavored   potato,    and   I  do  not   choose  them   for 

[  240  ] 


ELKVEN]      COME   AND   SEE   MY   CABBAGES 

being  like  flour.  Yet  there  is  so  much  in  the 
cooking  of  a  potato  that  we  are  Hable  to  reject  the 
best  varieties  for  lack  of  what  our  mothers  called 
"drying  off" — that  is,  steaming  after  cooking. 

Some    of    us    remember    when    tomatoes    were 
"  Love  Apples,"  and  not  supposed  to  be  eatable. 
The  older  sorts  were,  in   fact,  hardly  fit  for  the 
table.     The   smell    was  very  rank,  and   the  core 
was  hard,  while  the   skin  and   seeds   constituted 
the  bulk  of   the   fruit.      But   when   our   mothers 
made  them  into  savory  pies  they  stole  a  march 
on  prejudice.      "Father"  said    the  little  mother, 
"do  you  like  the  pie.?"     "To  be  sure,"  said  the 
father,    "but   what   is   it   made  of.?"      "Apples, 
my  dear  — love  apples."     So  we  have  come  down 
the  years,  conquering  and  being  conquered.     We 
have  not  so  many  vegetable  prejudices  as  we  had 
one  hundred   years    ago.     A  tomato   trellis,   half 
Golden  Queen  and  half  Trophy  or  Perfection,  is  a 
beautiful  sight.     The  beauty  goes  hand  in  hand 
with  comfort  and  pleasure  when  these  are  sliced 
with  granulated  sugar  in  Jersey  cream. 

Muskmelons  can  be  grown  successfully  all 
through  our  Northern  States.  There  are  also  one 
or  two  varieties  of  watermelon  that  perfect  as  far 

[241] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


north  as  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont.  One  of 
these  goes  by  several  different  names,  such  as  the 
Italian,  or  the  Sicilian,  according  to  the  dealer's 
fancy.  It  is  yellow-fleshed,  with  yellow  seeds,  and 
it  is  a  long  keeper.  I  have  eaten  very  good  ones 
on  Christmas  day.  Cole's  Early  is  one  of  the 
varieties  that  will  mature  in  nearly  every  state.  It 
is  a  first-class  melon,  with  flesh  of  a  deep  red  color, 
and  a  thin  rind,  very  sweet  in  flavor  and  very  pro- 
lific. The  melons  are  not  large,  are  nearly  round 
in  shape,  and  dark  green,  with  lighter  stripes.  The 
muskmelon  needs  rich  soil,  and  the  hills  should  be 
slightly  elevated  —  to  prevent  protracted  rains  rot- 
ting off  the  vines.  Whatever  you  may  say  of  Little 
Gem,  Jenny  Lind,  and  Paul  Rose,  bought  at  a 
grocery  store  or  fruit  stand,  they  are  never  so  fine 
as  the  home-made  article.  A  few  thoroughly  good 
sorts  for  general  culture  are  Rocky  Ford,  Paul 
Rose,  Columbus,  Princess,  Osage,  and  Little  Gem, 
with  Early  Hackensack  and  Jenny  Lind  for  very 
early  sorts.  If  you  wish  but  three  sorts,  take  Net- 
ted Gem,  Princess,  and  Osage.  Miller's  Cream  is 
a  cross  between  two  of  the  best  older  sorts,  and  if 
it  would  mature  a  little  earlier,  might  be  taken  in 
place  of  all  the  rest.     The  flesh  is  of  a  rich  salmon 

[242] 


ELEVEN]      COME    AND   SEE   MY   CABBAGES 

color,  very  sweet,  and  melting  in  quality,  while  the 
meat  is  so  thick  that  there  is  hardly  room  for  the 
seeds.  With  me  it  has  been  only  moderately  pro- 
ductive, and  rather  late.  A  shrewd  boy  taught 
me  to  have  my  melon  patch  in  the  middle  of  a 
corn  field.  Here  he  had  the  attractive  fruits  lying 
all  over  the  ground  and  undisturbed.  It  is  pos- 
sible that,  in  any  other  location,  a  moonlight 
night  might  note  their  departure.  I  do  not  quite 
understand  why  it  has  become  an  excusable,  if 
not  justifiable,  act,  to  steal  two  things,  melons 
and  grapes. 

I  have  deferred  noting  my  squashes,  although  I 
hold  a  good  squash  to  be  nearly  as  fine  a  thing  as 
a  melon  or  a  dish  of  succotash.  I  brought  you 
out  into  this  garden  of  mine  to  make  your  mouth 
water,  and  I  think  I  shall  succeed  in  doing  it.  But 
before  I  tell  you  how  to  raise  good  squashes,  I  must 
give  you  the  key  that  unlocks  the  whole  question, 
and  will  keep  your  place  increasing  in  fertility, 
rather  than  running  down  to  barrenness.  Just  as 
soon  as  you  buy  your  property,  I  want  you  to 
begin  one  or  more  compost  piles.  If  it  is  an 
old  farm,  you  will  find  no  end  of  decaying  matter 
and  manure   lying  around   here  and   there  —  old 

[  243  ] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

sod,  old  barn  manure,  lime  or  plaster,  old  heaps 
of  weeds,  and  old  everything.  If  you  have  ten 
acres,  you  will  select,  at  convenient  points,  at  least 
three  places,  where  you  will  have  compost  piles. 
These  should  take  in  all  I  have  named,  and  all 
the  wood  ashes  and  the  anthracite  coal  ashes  you 
can  get  possession  of,  with  barn  manure. 

In  the  fall  add  loads  of  fallen  leaves.  Such  a 
heap  should  be  left  undisturbed  until  late  October 
or  November;  then  comminute  it  thoroughly  with 
a  fork,  and  apply  to  the  gardens  just  before  the 
winter  sets  in,  or  in  the  spring,  very  early.  A 
good  gardener  never  uses  raw  or  half-fermented 
manures,  for  the  waste  runs  from  fifty  to  ninety 
per  cent. —  in  fact,  manures  applied  in  mid- 
summer, broadcast,  are  sometimes  absolutely 
thrown  away,  with  the  exception  of  a  very  little 
humus.  Compost  piles,  if  judiciously  arranged, 
need  not  mar  the  beauty  and  good  taste  of  your 
property.  In  spring  prepare  around  the  edges  beds 
for  lettuce,  radishes,  spinach,  and  parsley.  Then 
plant  on  the  top,  and  around  the  sides,  hills  of 
squashes.  You  will,  with  a  little  care,  secure  mag- 
nificent growth.  Pumpkins  will  do  just  as  well, 
only  they  should  be  grown  on  piles  separate  from 

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eleven]      come   and   see   MY   CABBAGES 


the  squashes.  As  soon  as  a  joint  is  formed  in  the 
growth  of  the  vine,  cover  it  with  dirt,  so  that  the 
roots  will  be  sent  down  into  the  pile.  Bury  again 
a  little  later,  two,  or  three,  or  four  successive  joints, 
and  then  when  the  borer  attacks  the  vine  at  the 
roots  he  can  work  out  his  own  will  without  doing 
serious  damage.  In  this  way  I  secure  most  luxuri- 
ant vines,  entirely  covering  the  compost  piles,  and 
yielding  a  couple  of  barrow-loads  of  Hubbards  and 
Faxons  of  delicious  quality.  Just  before  a  heavy 
freeze  is  probable,  cut  squashes  from  the  vines  — 
never  breaking  the  stems  —  handle  them  like  eggs, 
and  then  store  in  a  dry  cellar,  or,  better  yet,  in  an 
up-stairs  room.  Pumpkins  which  are  stored  in 
this  way  will  be  in  good  keeping  until  January, 
while  the  squashes  can  be  had  until  March  or 
April.  The  best  varieties  include  the  grand  old 
Hubbard,  the  Faxon,  the  Essex,  and  a  new  sort 
sent  out  recently  by  J.  H.  Gregory  Sons,  of  Marble- 
head,  Mass.,  called  the  Delicious.  This  squash 
may  well  be  described  by  the  name.  It  is  not 
large,  but  it  is  very  solid  and  very  sweet. 

Cucumbers  need  treatment  quite  similar  to  other 
vines,  but  grow  with  less  care  than  melons.  My 
own  private  rule  is  to  twist  the  roots  a  little,  just 

[245] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

under  the  soil,  and  so  save  the  digestion  of  myself 
and  family. 

Without  a  good  asparagus  bed  a  country  home 
is  hopelessly  deficient.  From  experience  I  have 
come  to  believe  that  the  very  best  sort  is  the  Ar- 
genteuil,  a  French  variety  of  extraordinary  tender- 
ness and  great  size  of  stalk.  I  have  often  cut  it 
eight  and  ten  inches  in  length,  and  tender  clear  to 
the  bottom.  Yet  the  Palmetto  and  Conover's  Co- 
lossal and  Moore's  Crossbred,  and  Columbian 
Mammoth  White  are  all  of  exceedingly  good  qual- 
ity. The  best  method  of  securing  good  plants  is  to 
sow  seed  late  in  the  fall,  or  early  in  the  spring,  in 
boxes,  or  in  a  spent  hotbed,  or  in  the  open  ground, 
in  drills  about  one  foot  apart ;  cover  the  seed  about 
one  inch,  and  leave  the  plants  growing  about  three 
inches  apart  in  the  row;  transplant  when  two  or 
three  years  old.  I  am  not  certain  from  personal 
experience,  although  I  strongly  suspect,  that  we 
shall  do  much  better  with  this  delicious  vegetable 
if  we  sow  where  the  plants  are  to  remain,  thinning 
out  to  about  one  foot  apart.  In  this  case  I  would 
sow  the  seed  a  little  deeper,  and  in  somewhat  hol- 
lowed drills.  Then,  as  the  plants  grow,  I  would 
fill  up  the  hollowed  drill,  and  even  mound  slightly, 

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then  fill  the  intermediate  space  with  the  richest 
manure.  The  soil  for  asparagus  should  be  very 
rich  and  very  deep,  but  on  no  account  should  there 
be  applied  any  raw  manure.  Apply  liquid  manure 
frequently,  and  salt  brine  very  freely,  then  be  sure 
the  ground  is  kept  clean  and  friable.  It  is  not  a 
bad  plan  to  burn  over  an  asparagus  bed,  with  straw 
and  rubbish,  late  in  the  fall  or  early  in  the  spring. 

For  greens  and  salads  we  shall  stand  in  need  of 
a  plenty  of  dandelions.  But  as  these  now  grow 
almost  everywhere  on  our  farms,  and  appear  in 
such  quantities  that  we  can  cut  all  we  choose,  and 
very  early  in  the  spring,  there  is  no  need  of  my  say- 
ing anything  about  their  culture.  An  enthusiastic 
doctor  has  said  that,  notwithstanding  the  number 
of  dandelions  in  the  world,  considering  their  value 
to  human  health,  "God  never  made  a  dandelion 
too  many."  Among  other  good  greens  are  Swiss 
chard,  spinach,  early  beets,  and  beet  tops.  All 
these  can  be  had  in  the  simplest  garden.  A  little 
later  we  can  utilize  pigweed,  milkweed,  and  poke 
stems,  all  of  them  excellent  food.  In  the  fall  we 
should  learn  to  utilize  and  appreciate  purslane. 
This  weed  is  growing  in  favor  as  a  succulent  and 
delicious  food.     Swiss  chard  is  seldom  grown,  but 

[  247  ] 


THE    COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 

I  recommend  it  as  one  of  the  most  easily  cultivated 
and  most  prolific  of  the  vegetables,  to  be  used  for 
salads  or  greens.  It  lives  through  the  winter  with- 
out covering,  and  its  stalks  are  very  much  like  those 
of  rhubarb  or  pieplant.  Most  country  homes  may 
also  have  endive,  and  where  there  is  water  or  a 
brook,  watercress. 

The  improvement  in  lettuces  has  been  remark- 
able for  the  last  twenty-five  years.  The  introduc- 
tion of  the  curled  and  the  black-seeded  Simpson 
marked  a  long  stride  ahead.  Then  came  the  Han- 
son, which  is  still  exceedingly  popular.  I  do  not, 
however,  know  of  a  single  variety  that  is  better,  for 
those  who  are  not  professional  gardeners,  than  the 
Mignonette.  It  is  a  quick  grower,  generally  com- 
ing up  of  itself  the  second  season  and  forming 
little  heads  about  as  big  as  your  fist.  It  is  delicious 
in  quality.  The  Denver  Market,  and  the  large 
Boston,  and  the  White  Tennis  Ball,  and  the  Grand 
Rapids,  are  all  superb  sorts.  One  of  the  best  for 
forcing  is  the  Stonehead  Golden  Yellow.  I  grow 
most  of  my  lettuces  around  the  compost  piles, 
where  the  soil  becomes  exceedingly  rich. 

Salsify,  or  vegetable  oyster,  like  the  onion,  may 
perhaps  be  better  bought  than  grown,  yet  I  always 

[248] 


eleven]       come   and   see   MY   CABBAGES 


SOW  a  little  of  the  Sandwich  Island  variety,  be- 
cause it  is  so  delicious  for  making  soups  in  the  win- 
ter. The  roots  should  be  cooked  with  a  few  pinches 
of  codfish,  and  thus  given  very  much  the  flavor  of 
oysters. 

No  one  who  wishes  to  enjoy  the  country  should 
be  without  a  supply  of  that  delicious  vegetable, 
the  rhubarb  or  pieplant.  The  best  variety  is  the 
Linnaeus,  and  the  largest  is  the  Mammoth.  The 
best  place  to  grow  pieplant  is  in  a  thoroughly 
worked-up  soil  that  will  catch  the  barn  drainage; 
in  fact,  it  is  utterly  useless  to  undertake  to  do  any- 
thing with  this  deep-rooting  plant  unless  it  has 
the  very  richest  soil.  I  caught  my  cue  from  a 
German  who  was  growing  it  in  a  corner  of  his 
barnyard.  It  was  fenced  off  from  the  cows,  and 
what  tremendous  stalks  and  a  plenty  of  them !  Pars- 
ley and  spinach  I  grow  by  the  side  of  my  rhu- 
barb, because  these  also  demand  rich  ground  and 
quick  growth.  They  are  of  decided  importance  in 
a  kitchen  laboratory. 

Nasturtiums  constitute  no  mean  candidate  for 
the  vegetable  garden.  The  green  seeds  are  fine  for 
pickles,  where  these  are  desired.  The  blossoms 
glorify  the  borders  for  four  months.     I  remember 

[249] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


that  my  father  planted  nasturtiums  as  borders  for 
his  onion  bed,  and  he  flanked  his  corn  fields  with 
hollyhocks.  It  was  his  delight  to  see  people  point 
at  their  crimson  glory  with  their  long  driving 
whips,  as  they  went  by  to  market  or  to  church.  It 
was  one  of  his  poems  —  the  poem  of  a  beautiful 
character. 

Along  one  side  of  the  vegetable  garden  may 
properly  be  placed  a  strip  of  sage,  summer  savory, 
mints,  fennel,  rosemary,  etc.  They  all  like  rich 
and  mellow  soil.  The  old-fashioned  herb  garden, 
which  constituted  such  a  feature  of  our  mother's 
horticulture,  is  no  longer  needed,  since  we  buy  our 
ground  sage  and  other  condiments,  yet  a  few  of 
these  old-time  friends  will  take  up  little  room,  and 
will  frequently  serve  a  good  purpose.  Summer 
savory  is  especially  fine  for  soups,  and  can  be 
grown  in  any  good  garden  soil. 

I  append  a  list  of  such  seeds  as  you  will  find  most 
desirable,  classified  according  to  the  month  for  sow- 
ing. In  February  and  March  we  should  have  a 
few  cabbage,  lettuce,  parsley,  pepper,  radish,  and 
tomato  seeds  starting  in  a  hotbed,  or  in  boxes.  It 
is  a  good  way  to  use  up  some  of  the  tin  cans  that  are 
a  puzzle  and  a  pest  to  get  rid  of.     Perhaps  the  best 

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ELEVEN]       COME   AND   SEE   MY    CABBAGES 


method  of  all  is  to  sow  in  cigar  boxes,  which  can 
be  placed  in  your  kitchen  windows.  If  you  intend 
to  plant  cauliflower,  or  celery,  or  eggplant,  these 
also  must  be  added  at  this  time. 

In  March  or  April,  just  as  soon  as  the  ground  is 
workable,  sow  beets,  carrots,  peas,  early  potatoes, 
spinach,  radish,  and  early  turnips.  Put  your  peas 
in  five  inches  deep,  and  see  that  your  ground  is  not 
only  well  underdrained,  but  has  good  surface  drain- 
age. When  dashing  showers  come,  they  should  be 
caught  at  once  in  prepared  runways,  and  carried 
off  without  washing  the  garden  soil.  This  is  es- 
pecially necessary  if  you  are  cultivating  a  hillside. 
One  half  the  compost,  or  fertilizer,  is  often  carried 
away  by  a  single  dashing  shower.  Besides  this,  early 
seeds  are  washed  out,  or  hopelessly  buried  under 
several  inches  of  dirt.  If  you  will  grow  your  own 
onions,  they  must  be  sown  in  April.  A  second 
planting  must  come  about  two  weeks  after  the  first. 
A  very  little  later  I  add  corn  and  beans  —  that  is, 
about  the  end  of  April  —  with  the  understanding 
that  they  may  get  nipped  by  late  frosts.  If  they  do, 
we  must  plant  over  again;  if  they  don't,  we  gain  a 
month  in  these  delicious  vegetables. 

About  the  middle  of  May  we  put  in  our  second 

[251] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chafter 


planting  of  corn,  and  of  beans,  and  our  third 
planting  of  peas  —  sowing  also  a  few  more  beets  and 
carrots,  and  adding  the  herbs.  About  the  25th,  or 
when  warm  weather  has  been  established,  we  plant 
our  hills  of  melons.  Around  these  we  set  boxes, 
eighteen  inches  across,  and  four  or  five  inches  high. 
Press  these  carefully  into  the  soil,  so  that  the  bugs 
cannot  crawl  under,  and  have  mosquito  netting 
ready  to  spread  over  before  the  striped  beetle  ap- 
pears. In  June  we  are  still  planting  our  late  peas 
and  corn. 

Remember  that  when  there  has  been  a  failure  in 
growth  of  seed,  you  can  fill  up  the  vacancies  at  al- 
most any  time  with  beets,  turnips,  and  carrots,  or 
you  can  plant  potatoes  as  late  as  the  last  of 
June.  Turnips  and  carrots  may  be  sown  in 
July.  Young  carrots  are  always  delicious  if 
cooked  in  Jersey  cream,  and  they  are  among 
the  most  wholesome  of  our  vegetables.  Ruta- 
bagas must  be  sown  as  early  as  July.  Buy  your 
seeds  and  plants  direct  from  growers.  Most  of  the 
reputable  seedsmen  are  growers  of  their  own  stock. 
Get  into  connection  with  a  half  dozen;  study  their 
catalogues,  and  heed  carefully  what  they  have  to 
say.     Avoid  dealers  that  offer  too  many  sorts,  and 

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ELEVEN]       COME   AND   SEE   MY    CABBAGES 


especially  those  who  advertise  a  large  number  of 
wonderful  novelties. 

You  must  determine  the  size  of  your  garden  plot 
by  experience.  Some  families  require  twice  as 
large  gardens  as  others.  My  own  custom  is  to 
scatter  my  vegetables  largely  among  my  small 
fruits  and  orchards.  Vegetables  should  be  grown, 
however,  not  too  far  from  the  house,  and  should  be 
convenient  to  the  housewife.  An  excellent  place  is, 
if  possible,  on  a  slope  below  your  barn,  where  the 
drainage  from  the  barnyard  can  be  retained  as  fer- 
tilizer, and  where  the  liquid  manure  may  be  con- 
veniently distributed.  A  site  opening  to  the  south- 
east is  always  preferable,  where  the  plants  can  take 
the  full  strength  of  the  sun,  while  the  wind  is  cut  off 
by  orchard  or  barn  or  other  protection.  It  must 
have  rich  soil  and  abundance  of  water,  together 
with  perfect  drainage.  The  best  fertilizer  for  most 
gardens  is  thoroughly  rotted  barnyard  manure, 
after  it  has  been  composted.  If  stable  manure  is 
used  directly  from  the  yard,  it  should  be  hauled  on- 
to the  ground  just  before  plowing.  Limestone  soil 
will  generally  furnish  enough  phosphoric  acid,  and 
wood  ashes  will  furnish  potash,  while  beans  and 
peas  will  increase  rather  than  decrease  the  nitro- 

[253] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

gen.  The  application  of  compost  containing  a 
good  deal  of  coal  ashes  will  improve  the  mechani- 
cal condition  of  the  soil. 

The  hotbed  is  a  simple  device  which  sooner  or 
later  you  must  have  after  making  a  home  in  the 
country.  The  essentials  are  nothing  more  than  a 
long  and  rather  narrow  box,  in  which  you  secure 
bottom  heat,  and  over  which  you  place  a  sash  of 
glass.  Nowadays  these  are  generally  built  directly 
upon  the  ground.  Some  of  them  are  half  in  the 
ground,  and  half  out.  It  is  thought  by  the  best 
horticulturists  that  the  pit  should  be  quite  shallow, 
to  prevent  the  heat  being  drawn  from  the  manure 
into  the  cold  earth.  The  heat  is  supplied  by  the 
fermentation  of  horse  manure.  This  manure 
should  be  used  when  fresh,  with  about  half  the 
quantity  of  straw  or  litter.  Pile  it  four  or  five  feet 
high,  with  the  top  level.  To  hasten  fermentation 
you  may  sprinkle  it  with  hot  water.  Turn  the  heap 
occasionally,  to  secure  a  more  uniform  ferment. 
When  this  is  secured  build  your  bed  for  seed.  The 
wall  around  this  bed  may  be  either  plank  or  brick. 
It  must  be  placed  on  a  slope  where  the  drainage  will 
be  perfect.  Spread  in  the  bottom  a  little  coarse 
stuff,  and  upon  this  a  couple  of  feet  of  manure. 

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Over  this  place  a  layer  of  leaf  mold,  and  on  top 
about  five  inches  of  the  finest  garden  soil.  The 
manure,  as  you  place  it  in  the  pit,  should  be  trodden 
in  layers  about  six  inches  thick.  A  hotbed  made 
with  two  feet  of  manure  will  soon  show  heat  enough 
for  seed.  Care  must  be  taken  not  to  overheat  — 
especially  when  the  sun  comes  out  suddenly.  The 
starting  plants  must  not  be  forced  so  as  to  draw 
them.  Thoroughly  sprinkle  the  frame  at  night. 
The  top  sash  must,  of  course,  slant  so  as  to  shed  rain, 
and  it  should  be  easily  raised  to  furnish  ventila- 
tion. Close  it  invariably  at  night,  to  avoid  chill- 
ing the  plants.  The  size  of  your  hotbed  you  can 
learn  to  adjust  to  your  growing  needs.  I  make 
quite  as  much  use  of  a  cold  frame,  which  is  only  a 
hotbed  without  bottom  heat.  It  is  useful  for  start- 
ing plants  in  the  spring,  and  it  comes  very  handy 
for  protecting  roses  or  other  tender  plants  in  the 
winter. 

The  census  tells  us  that  there  is  nothing  that  pays 
better  for  the  country  than  the  vegetable  garden. 
The  average  value  of  garden  stuff,  to  the  acre,  in 
the  United  States,  is  about  $147.00,  while  for  wheat 
the  average  is  only  about  $12.00  per  acre,  and  the 
average  for  wheat,  corn,  oats,  and  hay,  combined, 

[255] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


is  less  than  $8.00  per  acre.  Market  gardening  is, 
therefore,  one  of  the  most  profitable  means  of  earn- 
ing a  living  from  the  land.  However,  I  am  writ- 
ing more  specifically  for  those  who  are  desirous  of 
surrounding  themselves  with  home  luxuries.  A 
good  garden  for  this  class  is  absolutely  a  necessity. 
It  will  furnish  half  the  food  used,  while  the  orchard 
and  fruit  garden  will  go  far  toward  furnishing  the 
other  half.  City  dwellers  can  hardly  comprehend 
the  assertion  that  our  best  country  vegetables, 
fresh  from  the  ground,  constitute  the  most  delicious 
food  ever  placed  on  the  table. 

Most  of  the  romance  of  old-time  homes  in  the 
country  was  associated  with  the  vegetable  and  herb 
garden.  Lucky  beans  are  still  seen  on  watch 
charms,  and  potatoes  are  carried  in  pockets  to  cure 
rheumatism.  They  possibly  do  it  quite  as  well  as 
drugs  in  the  stomach.  In  leap-year  it  is  said  that 
all  the  peas  and  beans  grow  the  wrong  way  in  the 
pod  —  it  being  women's  year,  and  "  Women  do  con- 
trarious."  To  sleep  in  a  bean  field  was  thought  to 
induce  insanity.  Bean  soup  removed  freckles. 
The  Romans  thought  parsley  good  to  stifle  fumes 
of  wine.  I  remember  an  old  woman  who  argued 
that  a  beet  flowering  the  first  year  from  seed  im- 

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eleven]       come   and   see   MY   CABBAGES 


plied  a  death  in  the  family,  inside  the  year.  Let- 
tuce was  formerly  given  to  hot-tempered  people,  to 
help  them  keep  cool;  it  probably  soothed  their 
nerves.  Saffron,  being  yellow  in  its  flowers,  cured 
jaundice,  and  cucumbers  cured  hydrophobia. 

Garden  work  is  suitable  for  the  whole  family ;  for 
the  old  folk  and  the  women  folk,  as  well  as  for  the 
boys  and  girls.  It  is  the  natural  out-of-doors  family 
room.  It  has  something  to  interest  every  one  of  the 
household.  It  is  full  of  beauty  and  of  sweet  odors; 
for  peas,  beans,  and  even  the  onions  have  exquis- 
itely beautiful  and  delicate  flowers.  The  symbol 
of  the  garden  is  the  hoe  —  one  of  the  tools  by  which 
we  have  climbed  to  higher  things  and  to  higher  life. 


[257] 


CHAPTER    TWELVE 
OUR    RIVALS-THE   INSECTS 


IT  will  not  do  to  get  a  too  roseate  view  of  country 
life  as  a  sort  of  escape  from  worldly  anxieties  and 
cares.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  successful  land- 
tillage  without  brains.  Instead  of  the  elbowing  of 
city  life  you  will  get  a  keen  competition  with  insects, 
and  with  a  low  order  of  vegetables  —  both  insignifi- 
cant in  size,  but  the  only  real  rivals  that  man  has. 
The  battle  begins  early  in  the  spring,  and  continues 
until  autumn  has  placed  our  crops  in  storage.  Even 
after  that  we  are  not  quite  at  rest,  for  all  winter  long 
you  and  I,  and  the  birds,  will  be  doing  a  good  deal 
to  destroy  the  homes  of  worms  and  insects. 

I  have  seen  more  than  one  man  whipped  by 
quack,  and  not  a  few  driven  off  their  farms  by  po- 
tato beetles  and  codlin  moths.  In  the  concrete, 
these  antagonists  spoil  for  the  farmers  of  the  United 
States  $300,000,000  worth  every  year  —  that  is,  one- 
tenth  of  all  our  production.     Most  of  this  waste  is 


OUR    RIVALS— THE   INSECTS 


preventable.  It  is  not  impossible,  by  scientific 
methods,  to  double  the  produce  of  our  fields  and 
orchards.  We  are  just  waking  up  to  the  fact  that 
ten  acres,  brought  to  their  best  use,  are  as  good 
as  one  hundred  acres  under  ordinary  tillage  and 
care.  The  largest  leakage  is  from  the  rivalry  of 
creatures  whose  lines  of  bread-winning  cross  ours. 
Mark  you,  I  do  not  call  these  insects  our  enemies ; 
they  have  no  constitutional  desire  to  injure  us,  they 
are  only  doing  just  what  we  are  trying  to  do,  win  a 
living  and  propagate  their  species  —  multiply  and 
possess  the  land.  If  we  enter  the  struggle  with 
them  it  will  give  us  healthy  competition,  and  de- 
velop character  as  well  as  secure  food. 

I  shall  not  undertake  a  treatise  on  moths,  cut- 
worms, and  saw-flies,  but  will  try  to  give  you  a  help- 
ful chapter  that  will  carry  you  through  the  ordi- 
nary fight  in  garden  and  orchard.  The  snow  will 
not  have  melted  in  the  woods  before  we  shall  find 
need  for  spraying  pumps  and  poisons.  A  barrel 
of  Bordeaux  Mixture  is  the  first  necessity.  Give 
your  orchard,  your  lawn  trees,  and  your  garden  — 
everything  but  your  evergreen  trees  and  hedges  — 
a  thorough  application  at  once.  The  currant 
worm  is  a  product  of  the  saw-fly,  and  its  first  eggs 

[  259  ] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

will  have  been  laid  on  the  half-grown  leaves  before 
you  will  be  through  with  the  Bordeaux  spraying. 
The  larvffi  must  be  met  at  once  with  a  thorough 
syringing  of  Paris  green  and  white  hellebore.  If 
this  be  applied  thoroughly  it  will  probably  prevent 
a  second  brood,  which  would  naturally  occur  about 
June  first.  I  have  used  a  keg,  mounted  on  low 
wheels,  carrying  a  short  hose,  with  nozzle  adapted 
to  cast  a  very  fine  spray.  This  method  of  working 
will  necessitate  two  persons,  but  the  work  can  be 
gone  over  very  rapidly.  Those  who  grow  only 
a  few  currant  bushes  can  spray  them  with  an 
ordinary  sprinkling  pail.  Be  sure  if  you  do  not 
spray,  and  that  very  promptly,  your  currants  will 
be  worthless.  After  the  leaves  are  devoured  the 
fruit  will  sour  on  the  stems,  and  be  unfit  for  any 
domestic  purpose.  Still  worse  will  be  the  effect  of 
defoliation  in  destroying  the  vitality  of  the  bushes. 
They  w^ill  drag  out  a  poor  life  for  a  few  years,  and 
then  die  altogether. 

We  are  not  through  with  the  saw-fly  and  its  pro- 
geny before  we  must  again  spray  our  fruit  trees. 
This  should  be  done  just  before  they  blossom,  and 
now  with  Bordeaux  and  arsenites.  We  are  close 
upon  the  first  appearance  of  the  codlin  moth.     No 

[260] 


twelve]         our    rivals  — the   INSECTS 


danger  can  occur  to  an  apple  or  pear  from  a  strong 
solution,  but  I  should  prefer  a  much  weaker  solu- 
tion for  the  plum  and  cherry,  and  for  peaches  I 
should  be  still  more  cautious.  For  large  orchards 
the  simplest  way  is  to  drive  a  cart  about,  on  which 
is  placed  a  large  barrel  rigged  with  pump  and  hose 
and  nozzle.  For  my  own  grounds,  which  do  not 
everywhere  admit  a  cart,  I  use  a  barrel  rigged  be- 
tween two  wheels,  and  having  shafts  for  a  horse. 
Cover  your  horse  and  harness  with  a  large  sheet  or 
blanket,  to  keep  them  from  being  stained.  Spray- 
ing should  not  be  repeated  after  this  until  the  petals 
have  fallen  from  the  apple.  Just  before  the  apples 
turn  over  on  their  stems  another  spraying  may  be 
given,  and,  if  the  work  has  been  well  done,  this  is 
sufficient;  even  two  good  applications  are  better 
than  four  poor  ones.  Most  of  the  spraying  that  is 
done  by  hired  professionals  is  worthless.  No  good 
is  accomplished  unless  the  tree  is  absolutely  cov- 
ered with  fine  spray.  In  all  cases,  after  the  first 
spraying,  both  Bordeaux  and  arsenites  should  be 
applied  together. 

Meanwhile,  just  after  the  plum  blossoms  fall,  we 
have  a  sharp  battle  with  the  curculio  —  a  curious 
beetle  that  we  have  not  been  able  to  reach  ade- 

[261] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


quately  with  poison.  The  only  successful  way  of 
dealing  with  him  is  to  spread  a  very  large  sheet  un- 
der the  trees,  and  then  strike  the  trees  with  a  ram- 
mer, which  causes  the  beetles  to  drop  on  the  sheet. 
They  must  then  be  quickly  seized  and  destroyed. 
They  roll  up  their  legs  and  pretend  to  be  dead,  but 
begin  motion  again  within  a  few  seconds.  The 
rammer  should  be  a  stout  pole,  about  eight  feet 
long,  with  the  large  end  very  thickly  padded. 
Holding  the  smaller  end,  ram  the  tree  sharply,  in- 
stead of  striking  it.  What  you  need  is  a  sudden 
jar,  and  not  a  shake.  Care  must,  of  course,  be 
taken  not  to  bruise  the  bark  of  the  tree.  It  will 
expedite  matters  if  your  sheet  is  tacked  at  the  sides 
to  light  strips  of  wood,  and  is  cut  up  the  middle  half 
way,  so  as  to  admit  the  tree  to  the  center  of  the 
cloth.  This  contest  must  be  kept  up  for  about 
three  weeks,  after  which  the  plum  crop  is  not  only 
safe  from  the  curculio,  but  from  nearly  all  other 
depredations.  I  have  found  it  quite  easy  to  save  a 
large  number  of  stung  plums  by  going  over  a  tree 
and  snipping  out  with  the  point  of  a  pocket-knife 
blade  the  crescent  that  contains  the  egg.  This 
must  be  done  before  the  larvae  start  for  the  center 
of  the  plum.    Their  progress  after  hatching  is  very 

[262] 


TWELVE]         OUR    RIVALS-THE   INSECTS 


rapid,  and  when  the  stone  is  touched  the  plum 
falls.  After  this  the  larvae  very  soon  leave  the 
plum  and  enter  the  ground.  After  you  have 
finished  your  fight  with  the  curculio,  it  therefore  re- 
mains necessary  to  look  out  that  the  dropping 
plums  are  gathered,  to  prevent  the  larvae  from 
escaping. 

The  curculio  not  only  attacks  plums  and  cher- 
ries, but  pears,  quinces,  and  occasionally,  when  the 
stone  fruits  are  scarce,  it  does  a  great  deal  of  dam- 
age to  apples.  The  codlin  moth  covers  much  the 
same  field,  omitting  the  plums.  It  damages  fruit 
annually  to  the  extent  of  $30,000,000.  But  it  must 
be  remembered  that,  if  this  moth  did  not  destroy  a 
portion  of  the  stock,  we  should  still  have  trouble 
from  over-bearing,  and  from  glutted  markets.  Our 
rivals,  in  other  words,  do  a  good  deal  of  thinning, 
which  could,  however,  be  better  done  by  ourselves, 
if  we  would.  No  one  can  have  observed  the  apple 
trees  during  a  very  prolific  year,  without  being  sat- 
isfied that  proper  thinning  will  not  be  attended  to 
by  growers. 

Borers  are  to  be  fought  at  all  seasons  —  especially 
in  the  apple  and  the  quince  and  the  peach  trees. 
First  cut  around  the  hole  smoothly  with  a  sharp 

[263] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


knife,  then  with  a  flexible  wire  hunt  out  the  larva 
and  kill  it ;  then  cover  the  wound  with  wax.  When 
all  this  is  done,  and  you  are  sure  that  the  tree  is  for 
the  present  rid  of  the  pest,  pile  coal  ashes  around 
the  trunk,  leaving  them  mounded  over  the  wound. 
A  well-grown  peach  or  plum  tree  will  need  half 
a  bushel  of  ashes,  while  a  bushel  will  not  be  too 
much  for  a  large  apple  or  pear  tree.  For  quite 
young  trees  wrap  each  one  with  tarred  paper,  or 
waxed  paper,  six  inches  wide,  and  press  it  well 
down  into  the  soil.  The  pear-tree  borer  works 
higher  up,  as  a  rule,  and  will  be  found  somewhere 
about  the  limb  joints.  Bore  him  out  with  a  flexible 
wire,  and  wax  over  the  hole.  Still  another  borer 
works  occasionally  in  grape  vines.  Burn  your 
prunings,  in  which  the  larvae  invariably  develop. 

Tent  caterpillars  and  forest  worms  lay  their  eggs 
in  belts,  on  young  twigs,  where  they  are  glued 
tight  and  remain  through  the  winter  —  to  develop 
with  the  first  warm  suns  of  spring.  These  must 
be  hunted  out  when  the  foliage  has  fallen,  and  all 
winter  they  can  be  sought  for  and  destroyed.  What- 
ever eggs  escape  your  vision  and  hatch  out  worms 
will  be  quickly  detected  in  the  spring  by  the  webs 
they  will  at  once  spin,  and  these  should  be  burned 

[  264  ] 


TWELVE]         OUR    RIVAL  S-THE   INSECTS 


as  fast  as  they  appear.  Fortunately  for  us,  the 
forest  worm  very  soon  finds  its  parasitic  enemies, 
or  it  would  absolutely  overwhelm  us  with  its  multi- 
tude. The  tent  caterpillar  also  has  its  insect  ene- 
mies, so  that  it  is  very  migratory  in  its  appearance. 
Neither  of  these  pests  are  generally  found  more 
than  two  years  in  succession  in  the  same  locality, 
at  least  in  force.  There  must  be  no  dallying  with 
them,  however,  for  if  allowed  to  get  well  in- 
trenched they  will  devour  our  orchards  and 
even  our  lawn  trees  inside  of  two  weeks.  Not 
only  is  our  fruit  crop  destroyed,  but  the  trees  are 
so  devitalized  by  two  years  of  feeding  that 
many  of  them  will  die  outright.  I  have  seen 
large  belts  of  forest  trees  killed  by  forest  worms 
as  if  by  fire. 

Canker  worms,  or,  as  they  are  generally  called, 
"measuring  worms,"  are  of  two  kinds,  the  spring- 
feeders  and  the  autumn-feeders.  The  early  sort 
must  be  shaken  from  the  trees,  and  bands  of  tarred 
cotton  put  about  the  trunks  to  prevent  their  climb- 
ing up  again.  As  a  rule,  our  winter  birds  will  take 
care  of  the  late  brood,  if  they  are  encouraged.  Cut 
worms  are  not  often  on  hand  in  serious  numbers, 
but  when  they  are  wind  your  trees  with  cotton  bat- 

[1^65] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapteu 


ting,  after  ridding  them  of  the  worms.  It  is  also 
advisable  for  both  canker  worms  and  cut  worms 
that  we  spray  them  with  Paris  green.  This  work 
must  be  done  very  promptly  and  very  thoroughly; 
throwing  a  scattered  spray  that  reaches  half  of 
the  tree  does  little  good. 

This  paragraph  must  deal  with  a  trouble  which 
I  confess  is  most  difficult  to  manage ;  I  refer  to  the 
different  varieties  of  aphides  or  lice  that  infest  our 
fruit  trees,  and  sometimes  our  lawn  trees.  No  one 
has  yet  devised  any  method  whereby  we  can  com- 
pletely master  these  insignificant  creatures.  The 
hop  louse  appears  first  on  plum  trees  and  on  buck- 
thorn hedges,  early  in  the  spring.  After  breeding 
several  generations,  to  the  great  annoyance  of  tree 
growers,  it  turns  a  generation  loose  into  the  hop 
yards.  The  destruction  wrought  is  often  so  great 
as  to  make  picking  hops  not  worth  the  while.  Our 
remedy,  so  far  as  we  have  any  remedy,  is  spraying 
with  kerosene  emulsion,  or  with  whale  oil  soap,  or 
both  combined.  As  the  leaves  curl  up  very  quickly 
under  the  influence  of  these  parasites,  it  is  very 
difficult  to  hit  them  all  with  spray.  You  must  go 
over  and  over  again,  day  after  day,  until  you  find 
that  you  are  making  some  impression.     Take  a 

[266] 


twelve]         our    rivals  — the   INSECTS 

turn  with  Paris  green,  and  apply  in  the  same  way. 
When  my  buckthorn  hedges  are  infested,  I  take  the 
shears  and  cut  off  the  young  shoots  and  burn  them 
up.  The  damage  is  worst  of  all  on  sweet  cherries. 
Here  it  is  sometimes  so  great  that  I  go  over  young 
trees  and  pick  off  infested  leaves  and  burn  them, 
trusting  nature  to  slowly  overcome  the  damage 
done  by  the  removal  of  the  foliage.  It  frequently 
happens  that  new  growth  will  soon  take  place,  and 
that  will  not  be  infected.  It  needs  a  whole  volume 
to  discuss  these  little,  but  most  destructive,  crea- 
tures. The  woolly  aphis  is  a  curious  insect,  and  is 
often  mistaken  for  a  bit  of  cotton  or  vegetable  floss 
floating  in  the  air.  It  is  a  blistering  pest  when  it 
makes  its  home  on  the  bark  of  a  tree,  while  another 
sort  that  works  underground  is  one  of  the  worst 
enemies  of  our  berries,  and  still  another  of  our 
grapes.  The  variety  that  works  on  raspberry  roots 
creates  galls,  which  soon  destroy  the  vitality  of  the 
cane.  Our  only  remedy  is  to  dig  up  the  plants  and 
burn  them. 

There  is  one  compensation  which  comes  from 
some  of  the  aphidse;  they  deposit  a  honey  dew, 
from  which  our  bees  make  a  large  amount  of 
honey.     Nor    is    this   honey  an    inferior  product. 

[i267] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapteh 


While  the  bees  are  at  work  collecting  this  deposit, 
you  will  find  the  white-faced  hornet  all  over  the  in- 
fested trees,  killing  and  eating  the  lice.  Do  not  de- 
stroy one  of  their  paper  nests,  because  you  have  not 
a  better  friend  in  the  insect  kingdom.  The  lady- 
beetles,  or,  as  the  children  call  them,  carriage  bugs, 
are  also  of  immense  importance  as  aphis  killers. 
The  chief  trouble  in  combating  lice  is  the  immense 
rapidity  with  which  they  multiply.  Prof.  Forbes 
estimates  that  a  single  mother  can  produce,  in  a 
season,  nine  and  a  half  quadrillions  of  young. 

I  have  sometimes  thought  that  lice  on  house 
plants  do  not  generally  do  more  harm  than  good. 
Among  these  indoor  plants  they  eat  up  and  clear 
out  of  the  way  a  lot  of  wretched,  diseased,  poison- 
breeding  pests. 

There  are  many  sorts  of  scale  bugs  that  infest 
our  orchards  and  gardens.  They  are  all  exceed- 
ingly destructive,  if  allowed  to  have  their  way. 
Young  trees  when  infested  should  be  thoroughly 
swabbed  with  kerosene  emulsion  and  whale  oil 
soap.  The  remedy  must  be  applied  several  times 
before  the  scales  will  be  entirely  eradicated.  All 
other  varieties  are  comparatively  harmless  beside 
the  San  Jose  scale.     This  variety  came  from  China 

[268] 


twelve]         our    rivals  — the   INSECTS 


into  California,  where  it  wrought  astonishing 
havoc.  The  young  crawl  for  a  while,  and  then 
settle  down  in  vast  numbers,  sucking  the  life  out  of 
a  tree.  An  orchard  will  be  destroyed  in  a  single 
season,  and  the  most  beautiful  neighborhood  will 
in  a  short  time  become  a  desert.  It  breeds  on  such 
trees  as  walnuts  and  willows,  and  on  your  berry 
plants,  your  lilacs,  and  most  other  shrubs,  as  well 
as  on  all  fruit  trees.  All  scales  poison  the  wood, 
as  well  as  suck  the  sap,  which  to  some  degree  is 
true  also  of  aphides.  Besides  the  remedies  named, 
we  must  bear  in  mind  that  a  healthy  tree  is  very 
much  less  likely  to  be  assailed  than  a  sickly  tree, 
therefore  keep  up  steady  growth. 

Besides  these  almost  domesticated  enemies  of 
our  peace,  each  year  is  pretty  sure  to  develop  some 
special  insect  or  worm,  like  the  pear  psylla,  which 
gave  us  so  much  trouble  in  1903.  Forest  worms 
are  found  to  come  in  periods  of  about  thirty  years. 
Different  sorts  of  borers  move  across  the  country, 
sometimes  westward  and  sometimes  eastward. 
The  remedies  which  I  have  named  are,  as  a  rule, 
what  we  need  for  these  special  visitors,  only  attack 
them  promptly  before  they  get  good  lodgment. 
Prof.  Roberts,  of  Cornell  University,  says  the  worm 

[  269  ] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


which  is  really  at  the  root  of  our  fruit  industry  and 
spoiling  our  country  homes  has  not  been  poisoned, 
and  cannot  be  punched  out  of  existence.  We  have 
not  even  discussed  him  and  found  out  where  he 
hibernates;  neither  do  we  know  his  life  history. 
*'We  could  send  scores  of  specimens  from  any 
county  to  the  experiment  stations  to  illustrate  their 
blighting  effects.  All  others  combined  cannot  be- 
gin to  do  the  damage  that  is  done  by  ignorance. 
The  untaught  engineer  lands  his  passenger  in  the 
morgue,  but  the  ignorant  farmer  lands  himself  in 
the  tenement-house  or  the  poor-house.  Ignorance 
is  the  worst  worm  that  breeds  in  the  country." 

In  the  flower  garden  we  have  pests  enough  to  vex 
the  patience  of  any  lover  of  the  beautiful,  yet  they 
are  mostly  managed  with  patience  and  petroleum. 
Kerosene  emulsion  must  be  always  on  hand  for  the 
grower  of  roses.  The  white  fly  and  the  slug, 
which  are  sure  to  appear  in  May  and  early  June, 
should  be  promptly  met  by  a  thorough  sprinkling  of 
weak  emulsion  and  hellebore.  If  the  first  applica- 
tion proves  to  be  too  weak,  try  it  a  little  stronger, 
but  go  very  slow  or  you  will  blister  the  foliage.  I 
am  happy  to  say  that  I  have  no  personal  experi- 
ence with  the  rose  chaffer  or  beetle  on  my  roses. 

[270] 


twelve]  our    rivals  — the   INSECTS 

When  they  do  develop  they  come  with  such  rapidity 
and  in  such  hordes  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  con- 
trol them.  Poison  will  partly  do  the  work,  but 
hand  picking  must  follow.  Catbirds,  wrens,  wood- 
peckers, bluebirds,  brown  thrashers,  and  other 
birds  will  destroy  a  large  percentage,  and  the  toad 
helps  us  emphatically.  Prof.  Hodge,  of  Clark 
University,  recommends  planting  spireas  around 
our  rose  gardens,  because  the  beetles  will  gather  in 
this  bush  and  can  be  collected  readily.  There  are 
many  other  insects  that  attack  our  flowers,  and 
sometimes  they  will  create  havoc.  As  a  rule,  they 
can  be  kept  in  control  by  the  remedies  I  have 
named. 

I  append  a  list  of  formulae  for  the  most  important 
fungicides  and  insecticides. 

Bordeaux  Mixture. 

Copper  Sulphate 6  lbs. 

Quick  or  Stone  Lime 4  lbs. 

Water 45-50  gals. 

Dissolve  the  copper  sulphate  in  an  earthen  or 
wooden  vessel  with  three  gallons  of  hot  water,  or 
put  in  a  coarse  sack  and  suspend  in  a  barrel  partly 
full  of  water;  when  dissolved,  slack  the  lime  in  a 

[  271  ] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

separate  vessel,  dilute  to  ten  or  fifteen  gallons,  and 
add  to  the  copper  solution  in  the  barrel;  then  fill  up 
with  water  to  make  the  45-50  gallons.  Stir  fre- 
quently. For  spraying  peaches  use  two  pounds  of 
the  copper  sulphate,  and  add  an  excess  of  lime. 
After  mixing  the  lime  and  copper  sulphate  the 
mixture  must  be  used  at  once,  but  if  you  wish  to  be 
always  prepared  keep  the  solutions  separate  until 
about  to  use  them. 

Paris  Green  Mixture. 

Paris  Green 1  lb. 

Quicklime 2  to  3  lbs. 

Water 150-300  gals. 

Lime  must  be  added  to  a  Paris  green  mixture,  to 
avoid  burning  the  foliage.  Remember  always  to 
weaken  the  mixture  when  applying  to  peaches  and 
plums.  A  common  method  is  to  apply  Paris  green 
with  the  Bordeaux.  By  doing  this  the  Paris  green 
will  lose  its  caustic  properties,  but  will  be  equally 
valuable  as  an  insecticide. 

Arsenate  of  Lime. 
This  insecticide  is  growing  in  favor,  and  is  quite 
as  efficient  as  Paris  green,  while  it  costs  only  one- 

[  272  ] 


TWELVE]  OUR   RIVALS  — THE   INSECTS 

half  as  much.  It  will  not  burn  the  tenderest  foli- 
age when  made  according  to  the  following  prescrip- 
tion.    Boil  together  for  fifteen  minutes 

Water 2  gals. 

Sal  Soda 8  lbs. 

White  Arsenic 2  lbs. 

When  the  arsenic  is  entirely  dissolved  the  mixture 
is  ready  for  use.  Place  one  pint,  together  with  two 
pounds  of  slaked  lime,  in  a  barrel  of  water.  The 
value  is  equal  to  one-quarter  of  a  pound  of  Paris 
green,  and  costs  much  less. 

White  hellebore  and  pyrethrum  are  generally  ap- 
plied in  water,  one  ounce  to  three  gallons  of  water, 
or  they  are  used  dry,  mixed  with  one-fourth  part  of 
flour,  to  make  them  adhere.  These  poisons  are 
used  chiefly  on  ripening  fruit,  such  as  currants,  be- 
cause they  lose  their  poisonous  properties  very  soon 
after  being  exposed  to  the  air. 

Kerosene  emulsion  should  always  be  kept  on 
hand.  It  may  be  made  by  dissolving  one-half 
pound  hard  soap  in  one  gallon  of  boiling  water; 
add  two  gallons  of  kerosene,  and  churn  the  mixture 
with  a  pump  until  it  is  so  thoroughly  mixed  as  to 
constitute  a  soap  — that  is,  for  about  five  or  ten  min- 

[273] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


utes.  This  emulsion  is  valuable  at  all  seasons;  in 
winter  for  scale  insects,  in  summer  for  plant  lice, 
thrips,  etc.  For  use,  dilute  according  to  what  you 
intend  to  spray.  Two  or  three  tablespoonfuls  in 
a  pail  of  water  will  be  quite  strong  enough  for  a 
first  application  on  roses,  but  a  dilution  four  times 
this  size  will  be  none  too  strong  when  you  intend 
to  swab  your  scale-infested  trees. 

In  all  cases  be  sure  to  begin  your  work  as 
soon  as  your  enemy  does,  instead  of  waiting  until 
the  mischief  is  half  done  and  your  enemy  well 
intrenched. 

In  spite  of  all  preventives  the  San  Jose  scale  has 
invaded  nearly  all  the  states  of  the  Union.  It  will 
be  advisable,  therefore,  to  give  you  a  formula  for 
contending  with  this  formidable  pest.  At  present 
we  have  no  better  method  of  treatment  than  that 
which  is  called  the  lime,  sulphur  and  soda  mixture. 
While  different  strengths  of  this  formula  have  been 
used,  the  following  seems  to  be  most  satisfactory : 

Sulphur 17  lbs. 

Caustic  Soda 3  lbs. 

Lime 33  lbs. 

Water One  barrel 

[274] 


.pov^owv- 


,^.  o^^c*^ 


TWELVE]         OUR   RIVALS-THE  INSECTS 


This  mixture  does  not  need  boiling.  The  lime 
and  soda  cause  it  to  come  to  great  heat  —  if  the 
chemicals  are  pure  and  in  good  condition.  The 
application  is  as  simple  as  that  of  other  formulae, 
but  care  must  be  exercised  because  of  its  caustic 
nature.  It  is  always  preferable  with  such  mixtures 
to  repeat  applications  rather  than  make  them  too 
intense  at  first. 

The  following  calendar  will  be  found  useful  in 
every  department  of  your  country  home-making : 

Apple. — For  fungus,  apply  Bordeaux  when  the 
buds  are  swelling,  again  just  after  the  buds  open, 
and  a  third  time  after  the  blossoms  have  fallen. 
Repeat  later,  if  you  have  time,  and  consider  the 
work  is  needed.  For  canker  worm,  spray  with  ar- 
senites  as  soon  as  the  worm  shows  itself,  and  again 
after  ten  days.  For  codlin  moth,  use  arsenites, 
with  Bordeaux  Mixture,  after  the  first  application 
of  Bordeaux. 

Currant. —  Use  Bordeaux  when  the  leaf  is  about 
half  grown.  Use  arsenites  or  kerosene  emulsion 
with  hellebore  as  soon  as  the  worms  begin  their 
work;  repeat  every  two  or  three  days,  until  they  are 
out  of  sight.  If  a  second  brood  occurs  later,  use 
hellebore  and  no  Paris  green. 

[275] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapteh 


Grape. — Treat  with  iron  sulphate  before  the 
buds  start  in  the  spring.  Use  Bordeaux  to  prevent 
black  rot  just  before  blooming;  repeat  just  after 
the  fruit  is  ||set,  and  again  a  few  weeks  later.  For 
beetles  and  bugs  apply  Paris  green  as  soon  as  they 
appear. 

Pear. — Treat  as  you  do  the  apple.  For  blight 
cut  off  the  limbs  some  inches  below  the  affected 
part,  and  burn.  For  psylla  and  slug  apply  kero- 
sene emulsion,  quite  strong,  and  repeatedly,  or 
whale-oil  soap,  one  pound  to  ten  gallons  of  water. 
If  the  scab  appears  on  the  pear  or  apple  apply  Bor- 
deaux repeatedly. 

Plum. — Use  Bordeaux  before  the  buds  open,  and 
again  after  the  fruit  is  set,  repeating  occasionally. 
If  leaf  blight  occurs,  Bordeaux  again.  Cut  away 
black  knot,  and  apply  Bordeaux. 

Cherry. —  Cut  away  black  knot  and  burn  it. 
Apply  arsenites  for  slugs,  and  treat  aphis  with  hel- 
lebore; try  also  kerosene  emulsion.  Repeat  the  ap- 
plication every  ten  days,  or  oftener. 

Potato. — For  blight  use  Bordeaux  when  the 
vines  are  six  inches  high ;  repeat  every  two  or  three 
weeks.  To  prevent  potato  scab  do  not  plant  any 
scabby  seed,  and  soak  uncut  seed  potatoes  one  hour 

[276] 


twelve]         our    rivals  — the   INSECTS 


and  a  half  in  a  solution  of  corrosive  sublimate  —  one 
ounce  to  eight  gallons  of  water.  For  potato  beetle 
apply  arsenites  as  soon  as  the  beetles  or  the  slugs 
appear.  Bordeaux  and  arsenites  can  be  applied 
together. 

In  the  Berry  Garden. —  Spray  everything  with 
Bordeaux  very  early  in  the  season;  repeat  once  or 
twice  through  the  early  part  of  the  season.  For 
orange  rust  dig  up  and  burn  the  plants.  For  root 
gall  dig  up  and  burn. 

Beans. —  As  soon  as  the  first  leaves  expand 
apply  Bordeaux  to  prevent  the  development  of 
rust ;  repeat  after  blossoming,  and  afterward  at  in- 
tervals. 

Remember  that  Bordeaux  is  your  remedy  against 
all  forms  of  mildew,  rust,  and  blight.  It  can  be 
used  quite  freely  in  your  vegetable  garden  as  well 
as  in  your  fruit  garden. 

House  Plants. — For  insects  on  house  plants  I 
have  suggested  a  spray  of  suds  from  sulpho-tobacco 
soap.  Tobacco  water  is  also  useful,  made  by  boil- 
ing tobacco  stems  and  straining  the  liquid.  Add 
water  to  make  two  gallons  of  liquid  for  every  pound 
of  stems  used.     The  mixture  will  be  made  more 

[277] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapteb 


efficient  by  stirring  in  one  pound  of  whale-oil  soap 
to  every  fifty  gallons. 

These  formulae  will  be  very  helpful,  and  abso- 
lutely essential  to  beginners,  but  there  will  be,  I 
assure  you,  room  enough  for  the  application  of  in- 
dividual judgment  and  experimentation.  Every 
orchard  offers  conditions  that  modify  treatment;  so 
does  each  year  — 1902  held  through  the  whole 
summer  an  excess  of  moisture,  and,  as  a  result, 
lime  was  absorbed  by  the  atmosphere,  and  the  or- 
dinary mixtures  for  spraying  that  are  generally 
safe  burned  the  trees.  Immense  damage  was  done 
throughout  the  whole  apple  belt,  but  especially  in 
New  York  State.  Under  similar  conditions  more 
lime  must  be  added  to  your  formulae.  It  has  been 
found  by  our  best  horticulturists  that  not  one  of  the 
remedies  or  preventives  suggested  will  work  with 
precisely  the  same  results  in  all  orchards.  The  age 
and  the  vigor  of  trees  must  be  considered.  In  a 
young  orchard  scales  and  aphidse  have  so  much 
nourishment  that  not  one  young  one  fails  to  thrive. 
In  this  case  spraying  will  have  to  be  repeated  more 
frequently  than  in  an  old  orchard,  where  a  large 
proportion  of  the  insects  fail  at  birth. 

[278] 


twelve]  our    rivals  — the   INSECTS 


I  have  not  given  space  to  a  discussion  of  the  oil 
remedy,  because  there  is  so  much  danger  of  serious 
damage  being  done  by  amateur  workmen.  If, 
however,  you  care  to  experiment  with  crude  petro- 
leum to  destroy  scale  insects  or  aphides,  I  advise  you 
not  to  use  a  stronger  than  twenty-five  per  cent,  mix- 
ture. In  peach  orchards  I  should  use  it  with  still 
greater  caution.  Pure  crude  petroleum  was  for  a 
while  recommended  to  be  used  in  very  fine  spray, 
but  a  vast  amount  of  damage  was  done. 

I  shall  not  pass  away  from  this  discussion  of  in- 
secticides, involving  a  free  use  of  arsenical  mixtures, 
without  warning  you  that  these  poisons  cannot 
be  used  without  more  or  less  danger.  Some  of 
us  cannot  handle  or  come  in  contact  at  all  with 
these  spraying  materials  without  serious  injury. 
A  great  deal  too  much  arsenic  is  used  in  potato 
fields,  and  elsewhere.  The  storing  of  it  is  often 
very  careless.  Arsenic,  even  when  used  in  the 
form  of  spray,  and  blown  about  by  the  wind,  is  nfjt 
inhaled  by  the  lungs  wi  h  impunity.  I  give  you, 
therefore,  a  word  of  sharp  caution  in  the  handling 
of  this  poison  and  its  application. 

A  large  number  of  insects  are  very  migratory  in 
their  habits.     They  are   always  coming  and  they 

[  279  ] 


THE    COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


are  always  going.  The  May  beetle  comes  in  large 
numbers  only  once  in  three  years.  His  approach 
is  heralded  by  the  very  large  increase  of  moles  that 
feed  on  the  larvse.  Those  that  emerge  feed,  for  a 
few  days,  on  our  trees  that  are  late  in  leafing 
out  —  such  as  the  butternut  and  the  scarlet  oak 
and  the  ash.  It  is  nearly  impossible  to  success- 
fully contend  with  this  rapid  feeder. 

Since  the  discovery  that  mosquitoes  carry  some 
of  the  most  dangerous  bacteria,  and  are  the  medium 
whereby  many  destructive  fevers  are  spread,  it 
becomes  essential  to  enter  seriously  into  a  cam- 
paign against  this  insect.  The  most  available  ma- 
terial for  combating  the  mosquito  is  crude  or  re- 
fined petroleum,  sprayed  over  those  pools  and  pud- 
dles where  mosquitoes  breed.  This  should  cover 
those  road  pools  and  marshy  spots  which  lie  at  quite 
a  distance  from  our  houses.  The  application  must 
be  made  suflSciently  often  to  make  sure  that  we  have 
destroyed  the  larvse  in  the  water.  Be  sure  that 
your  cesspools  are  treated,  and  if  you  are  careless 
enough  to  have  slop  holes  near  your  kitchen  door 
let  them  be  thoroughly  disinfected.  In  this  way 
malaria  can  be  absolutely  abolished  from  a  neigh- 
borhood, while  we  shall  go  very  far  to  prevent 

[280] 


twelve]  our   rivals  — the   INSECTS 


typhoid  fever.  The  fly  nuisance  can  be  greatly  re- 
duced by  spraying  barn  walls  and  even  house  walls. 
The  house  fly  is  the  more  common  agent  in  spread- 
ing typhoid  fever.  It  breeds  in  manure  piles,  and 
these  should  be  disinfected,  if  allowed  to  remain  at 
all  about  the  house  or  the  barn. 

Science  is  placing  our  relation  to  the  pests  of  life 
in  a  new  light.  It  seems  now  to  be  certain  that 
we  shall  be  able  to  master  all  those  ills  which  we 
used  to  class  under  the  head  of  Providences.  It 
becomes  a  social  and  moral  duty  to  do  our  full 
share  in  suppressing  the  foes  of  health.  Any  ani- 
mal that  breeds  disease,  or  carries  it,  fails  to  have 
any  claim  on  our  good  will.  Science  has  no  nobler 
end  than  this  practical  one  of  destroying  the  sources 
of  contagion  and  infection.  A  country  home  that, 
by  defective  sewerage,  or  by  slop  holes,  or  by 
sloughs,  or  puddles  of  standing  water,  affords 
breeding  places  for  social  plagues,  is  a  nuisance. 
We  can,  with  so  little  difficulty,  prevent  the  mos- 
quito from  propagating  on  our  property,  that  if  we 
do  not  we  justly  deserve  the  punishment  that  na- 
ture metes  out,  in  the  way  of  fevers  and  linger- 
ing misery.  Fill  up  your  mud  holes,  clean  out  your 
stagnant  pools,  drain  your  swampy  acres,  empty 

[281] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME 


out  your  old  cistern  water,  and  freely  spray  every- 
thing with  kerosene  until  it  is  uninhabitable  by 
insects.  Cooperative  destruction  of  dangerous  pests 
will  be  our  final  resort.  In  Denmark  a  National 
Commission  stands  in  charge  of  such  work.  Be- 
sides the  use  of  a  national  appropriation,  the  larger 
cities  also  raise  subscriptions  to  aid  the  work.  The 
destruction  of  mosquitoes  must  become,  in  this  way, 
a  neighborhood  and  a  national  affair. 


[282] 


CHAPTER    THIRTEEN 

SECURING   OUR   ALLIES 


JN  OTHiNG  is  more  certain  than  that  man  could  not 
exist  in  the  country  alone;  perhaps  he  can  in  the 
city.  We  began  our  civilization  by  securing  the 
aid  of  the  camel,  the  ox,  the  reindeer,  and  the  dog; 
and  by  and  by  the  horse  became  our  noblest  ser- 
vant and  companion.  Our  food,  our  safety,  our 
poetry,  are  largely  dependent  on  association  with 
these  humble  friends.  Only  a  degenerate  supposes 
that  he  can  live  with  his  gun,  in  defiance  of  all  other 
creatures.  Earlier  races  were  ready  to  recognize 
their  dependence  upon  animal  friends.  The  Aino, 
who  represents  the  age  of  the  cave-dweller,  apolo- 
gizes to  a  dead  bear  that  he  has  killed — "only 
from  necessity,  and  not  from  love  of  killing."  "  Oh, 
bear !  forgive  me !  and  believe  me  not  to  be  a  man  of 
evil  mind!  I  send  you  ahead  to  spirit  hunting 
ground !  I  pray  you  to  be  my  friend  there,  as  you 
have  been  here!"     This  touch  of  sympathy  with 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chafteb 


animal  life  is  a  saving  charm  of  barbarism.  Every 
race  has  manifested  affection  for  something,  horses, 
or  dogs,  or,  it  may  be,  domesticated  birds.  Our 
complex  civilization  is  possible  only  as  we  appre- 
hend the  unity  of  all  life  and  the  interdependence 
of  all  living  things. 

Animal  sympathy  not  only  ministers  to  our  suc- 
cessful management  of  a  country  home,  but  to  the 
management  of  ourselves.  It  broadens  our  work 
to  a  larger  number  of  individualities.  Man  with 
his  gun  and  a  brute-force  soul  creates  only  discord; 
and  woman,  wearing  the  wings  of  her  allies,  com- 
pels the  birds  to  hide  in  the  woods.  With  such 
people  the  cow  will  grow  shy,  and  the  horse  will  de- 
generate into  an  unwilling  slave.  On  the  other 
hand,  what  can  be  more  wonderful  than  a  country 
folkhold  where  the  horse  draws  the  load  of  him 
who  feeds  him ;  where  the  cow  gives  milk  and  adds 
to  his  bank  account;  where  the  dog  guards  his  prop- 
erty and  the  birds  devour  his  enemies. 

The  interdependence  in  country  life  was  not  or- 
iginated by  man,  although  he  has  readjusted  the  re- 
lations of  creatures  in  every  direction.  When  a 
hawk  has  harried  a  robin's  nest,  I  have  seen  birds 
of  half  a  dozen  species  join  to  chase  the  marauder 

[284] 


thirteen]  securing   OUR    ALLIES 


through  the  skies.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  find 
strong  friendships  growing  up  among  our  domestic 
animals.  A  Morgan  mare  in  my  stables  became  so 
deeply  interested  in  a  Leicester  sheep  that  she 
would  share  her  hay  and  provender  with  evident 
pleasure.  Billy  would  jump  into  an  adjacent  man- 
ger, and  with  common  sense  take  no  more  than  his 
half.  Each  one  would  pull  a  mouthful  from  the 
hay,  and  then  draw  back  to  give  the  other  a  chance. 
It  is  altogether  misleading  to  talk  of  the  struggle  for 
existence  as  a  principle  covering  all  that  is  going 
on  throughout  animate  nature.  The  spirit  of  mu- 
tual aid  is  quite  as  general  as  the  struggle  for 
existence. 

Our  highest  moral  life  is  reached  in  that  altruism 
which  makes  our  responsibility  broad  enough  to 
secure  the  happiness  of  inferior  animals.  This 
duty  widens  into  religion,  when  we  recognize  the 
fact  that  we  are  children  of  God  only  as  we  are 
divinely  good  and  cooperators  with  the  Creator. 
This  cooperation  gets  to  be  a  very  important  part 
of  human  evolution.  We  have  to  learn,  above  all, 
to  distinguish  those  creatures  that  can  be  made 
compeers,  assistants,  or  collateral  workers.  The 
whole  of  human  history  contains  no  fact  more  re- 

[285] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

markable  than  the  domestication  of  animals  —  ani- 
mals plucked  out  of  wildness,  and  in  most  cases 
ferocity,  and  made  members  of  our  households. 

The  collie  dog  is  perhaps  the  nearest  to  a  reason- 
ing being  that  we  have  developed,  yet  he  comes 
directly  from  the  wolf.  My  collie  talks  to  me,  and, 
while  it  is  not  English,  it  is  a  cosmopolitan  speech 
that  embraces  the  better  part  of  English.  She 
knows  my  needs,  comprehends  the  boundaries  of 
my  property,  can  distinguish  our  animals  from 
others,  and  is  possessed  of  a  sense  of  responsibility 
for  their  welfare.  More  than  this,  she  comprehends 
many  things  that  I  do  not.  At  seven  o'clock  ex- 
actly, without  waiting  for  the  clock  to  strike  the 
hour,  she  starts  to  see  if  our  workmen  are  all  on 
time.  If  all  is  right  she  wags  her  tail,  and  turns 
away  to  other  dog-duties.  Her  observing  facul- 
ties have  reached  the  highest  development,  appar- 
ently under  Pestalozzian  influence  somewhere.  She 
observes  not  only  with  the  nicest  accuracy,  but  she 
draws  conclusions  with  a  certainty  that  is  human, 
or  more  than  human.  She  has  brought  along  the 
sharp-witted  outlook  of  her  wolf  progenitors,  but 
education  has  biased  all  this  into  lines  of  protective 
good-will.     It  is  a  case  of  conversion  from  malevo- 

[286] 


thirteen]  securing   OUR   ALLIES 


lence  —  giving  the  collie  a  conscience  and  a  dog 
religion.  With  her  quick,  discerning  wit,  she  is 
also  absolutely  fearless  —  when  right.  Unless 
beaten  into  cowardice,  a  collie  will  never  hesitate 
to  defend  home  and  friends,  or  whatever  is  placed 
in  her  charge.  The  last  thing  at  night  is  to  make 
sure  that  Lilah  is  indoors,  where,  with  full  range  of 
the  house,  she  constitutes  the  best  possible  burglar- 
alarm  and  defense.  Every  motion  of  the  beautiful 
creature  is  a  word.  Those  who  claim  to  own  ani- 
mals should  at  least  understand  animal  speech, 
most  of  which  is  not  yet  differentiated  from  the  tail 
to  the  tongue. 

In  Brussels  the  dog  does  a  very  large  part  of 
manual  labor,  together  with  the  women.  A  recent 
writer  says:  "  We  saw  a  young  girl  of  eighteen  har- 
nessed to  a  cart  between  two  great  dogs.  They  all 
seemed  happy,  and  the  woman  was  apparently  a 
free  agent,  for  when  together  they  had  pulled  the 
cart  into  a  favorable  position,  she  got  out  of  the 
harness,  bade  the  dogs  lie  down,  and  began  to  cry 
her  vegetables.  We  also  saw  men  harnessed  to 
carts  with  dogs,  but  there  were  more  women. 
We  saw  dogs  harnessed  between  shafts  like  horses, 
others  in  traces  underneath  the  carts,  and  others 

[287] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chaptek 


tandem.  They  pulled  great  loads,  and  I  did  not 
see  a  single  balky  dog;  in  fact,  they  evidently  en- 
joyed their  work  as  much  as  those  who  pulled  and 
worked  with  them.  One  big  dog  barked  all  the 
time,  and  beat  the  ground  with  his  paw  while  he 
was  being  loaded,  so  anxious  was  he  to  be  off. 
These  dogs  are  probably  far  happier  than  the  use- 
less or  the  pampered  dogs  of  our  own  country." 

You  say,  "But  we  are  going  into  the  country,  as 
much  as  anything  else,  so  that  we  can  keep  our  own 
cow.  I  long  once  more  to  taste  real  milk,  and  to 
have  all  the  golden  cream  that  we  can  have  —  free 
of  cost  —  placed  on  the  table."  To  be  sure;  and 
if  you  really  knew  what  passes  for  milk  in  the  city, 
after  it  has  become  charged  with  bacteria,  you 
would  never  know  how  to  get  on  without  your  own 
cow.  Yet,  after  all,  the  possession  of  a  cow  does  not 
imply,  for  a  certainty,  that  you  will  know  what  to 
do  with  such  a  creature.  Returning  to  country 
life,  I  found  that  I  must  either  get  a  new  sort  of 
man  to  do  my  milking,  or  must  do  the  milking  my- 
self —  and  I  accepted  the  latter  alternative.  Why 
not  milk  your  own  cow  ?  Why  not  spend  half  an 
hour  in  the  morning  in  the  stables,  to  see  that  ev- 
erything is  cleanly  and  that  justice  rules.     In  Hol- 

[288] 


THIRTEEN]  SECURING  OUR  ALLIES 


land  and  in  England,  where  the  women  care  for 
the  kine,  very  little  is  known  of  the  monstrous  filth 
that  constitutes  the  stable  and  the  barnyard  of 
many  American  cows.  In  Michigan  I  came  upon 
Quaker  homesteads  where  the  law  of  love  governed 
the  barn  as  well  as  the  house.  The  cows  appre- 
hended this,  and  showed  their  appreciation.  The 
milk  that  reached  the  pantry  from  such  a  barnyard 
was  untainted.  It  is  no  disgrace  for  a  woman  to 
milk  and  care  for  a  cow,  or  to  harness,  drive,  or  ride 
a  horse.  A  Yankee  thoroughbred  race  will  some 
day  be  developed  in  our  country  that  can  do  all  this, 
and  will  have  very  little  capacity  for  that  frivolous 
education  which  passes  for  "accomplishments." 

The  best  breed  of  cow  you  will  have  to  deter- 
mine for  yourself.  For  a  good-sized  family,  in  need 
of  a  large  amount  of  milk,  the  Holstein  is  unsur- 
passed. If  you  are  a  retired  couple,  out  of  whose 
nest  the  birds  have  flown,  a  creamy  Jersey  will  de- 
light you.  In  my  judgment  there  is  no  cow  that 
combines  so  many  good  qualities  as  the  Ayrshire, 
but  I  have  never  been  able  to  find  an  Ayrshire  that 
was  not  frisky  and  generally  mischievous.  From 
Scotch  ancestry,  they  have  inherited  the  capacity  to 
climb  steep  places,  and  I  have  seen  them  walking 

[289] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


up-stairs  into  a  haymow.  They  are,  however,  so 
intelHgent  that  if  you  have  about  them  just  the 
right  sort  of  human  friends,  you  will  convince  them 
that  common  sense  and  common  honesty  are  good 
policy.  The  last  Ayrshire  that  I  owned  enjoyed 
nothing  so  well  as  to  scrape  a  whole  row  of  hens  off 
the  roost  with  her  horns,  and  then  whirl  around  to 
me  with,  "Say,  wasn't  that  well  done?"  It  is  a 
breed  that  can  almost  talk,  and,  for  that  matter, 
laugh.  But,  whatever  the  breed,  I  wish  for  a  cow 
that  I  can  sit  down  on  when  she  is  quietly  chewing 
her  cud  in  the  yard ;  can  pat  and  play  with  —  a 
cow  that  is  appreciative  and  responsive  to  kind- 
ness. 

As  for  a  horse,  it  is  part  of  a  well-organized 
family,  even  yet  —  in  spite  of  the  trolley,  the  bi- 
cycle, and  the  automobile.  There  is  in  most 
human  beings  a  natural  horse  sympathy  that  I 
cannot  quite  account  for.  The  cow  is  despised 
as  a  "board-faced  animal,"  while  the  horse  is 
reckoned  upon  as  the  very  model  of  animal  allies. 
Part  of  this  sentiment  is  to  be  accounted  for  on  the 
basis  of  our  own  approach  toward  horse  sentiment, 
rather  than  an  education  of  the  horse  to  human  sen- 
timent.    But  if  you  find  it  possible  to  be  the  owner 

[  290  ] 


THIRTEEN]  SECURING   OUR   ALLIES 


of  a  Morgan  mare,  it  will  excuse  you  for  going  at 
least  half  the  way  in  friendship.  My  Morgan  was 
so  near  human  that  she  saved  for  me  life  and  limb 
more  than  once.  Going  up  a  very  steep  hill  in  the 
country,  the  shaft  broke  off  sharp,  and  the  buggy, 
containing  myself,  my  wife,  and  babe,  would  have 
been  easily  precipitated  into  a  gulch  thirty  feet  be- 
low. But  my  noble  horse  immediately  braced  her- 
self, turning  her  head  about  full  of  interrogation, 
and  held  everything  with  the  intelligence  of  a  hu- 
man being.  Indeed,  no  person  could  have  more 
fully  cooperated  in  getting  that  broken  buggy  to 
the  top  of  the  hill,  where  we  could  temporarily  re- 
pair it.  On  another  occasion,  while  driving  in  a 
crowded  city  street,  the  whiffletree  broke  loose.  In- 
stead of  running  or  kicking,  my  inarticulate  friend 
instantly  stopped  and  exercised  her  reason  in  as- 
sisting me  to  prevent  serious  damage.  However, 
most  of  you  will  not  be  able  to  own  a  Morgan.  You 
will  have  to  get  along  with  a  plain,  everyday  sort  of 
horse.  But  mark  you,  to  a  certainty,  every  time 
kindness  will  pay.  Talk  with  your  horse  as  if  she 
understood,  and  she  will  understand.  Talk  with 
all  your  animals,  and  you  will  be  astounded  to  find 
how  very  much  better  you  will  be  able  to  cooper- 

[  291  ] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


ate  than  when  you   swear,  scream,  kick,  and  act 
generally  like  a  fool. 

A  rural  free  delivery  carrier,  while  making  his 
rounds,  got  stuck  in  a  huge  drift.  Alighting  from 
his  carriage  to  examine  the  situation,  his  horse  gave 
a  great  leap,  broke  the  harness,  and  dashed  into  the 
open  road.  He  soon  disappeared,  leaving  the  car- 
rier and  the  broken  vehicle.  Taking  his  mail  bag 
on  his  shoulder,  the  carrier  started  to  find  the  next 
house.  He  had  gone  but  a  little  way,  when  he  saw 
his  horse  coming  back  again,  with  two  men.  He 
had  dashed  up  to  their  door,  calling  loudly,  and 
then  started  back  up  the  road.  He  did  this  until 
they  would  follow,  and  then  he  led  them  to  the 
drift  where  the  carrier  was  floundering  and  ex- 
hausted. Treat  a  horse  as  human,  always  and 
everywhere,  and  you  will  be  surprised  to  find  how 
fully  he  will  enter  into  intelligent  partnership. 
Bishop  Whipple  tells  us  that  he  was  obliged,  during 
his  Sioux  Mission,  to  make  a  drive  of  thirty  miles 
with  the  mercury  thirty-six  below  zero,  and  in  the 
teeth  of  a  severe  storm.  He  found  the  trail  com- 
pletely obliterated,  while  a  blizzard  raged  through 
a  starless  night.  He  finally  curled  himself  under 
the  buffalo  robes,  leaving  all  to  his  horses.     One  of 

[292] 


THIRTEEN]  SECURING   OUR   ALLIES 


these,  a  cousin  of  the  celebrated  Patchin,  suddenly 
stopped.  The  Bishop  jumped  from  the  sleigh  and 
could  distinguish  a  short  strip  of  Indian  trail. 
Bashaw  followed  it,  and  when  his  mate  was  in- 
clined to  turn  out,  he  put  his  teeth  into  his  neck  and 
forced  him  to  obey.  "When  at  last  we  reached 
the  Agency,"  says  the  Bishop,  "  Bashaw  turned  his 
great  eyes  upon  me,  and  said  with  a  whinny  as 
plainly  as  with  words,  we  are  all  right  now,  master. 
He  was  my  friend  and  companion  for  over  fifty 
thousand  miles,  always  full  of  spirit,  and  gentle  as 
a  girl.  He  saved  my  life  many  times  when  lost  on 
the  prairies.  In  summer's  heat  and  winter's  storm 
he  was  always  patient,  hopeful,  cheerful,  and  loved 
by  every  one  that  knew  him." 

I  can  hardly  refuse  myself  the  pleasure  of  copi- 
ous illustrations  of  the  capacity  of  an  honorably 
treated  horse  to  cooperate  in  many  of  the  occupa- 
tions and  purposes  of  a  country  home.  I  have 
known  of  more  than  one  horse  allowed  to  go  on 
errands  which  involved  rational  understanding. 
One,  a  devotedly  trusty  animal,  took  its  master's 
children  two  miles  to  a  school-house  each  morning, 
and  then  returned  to  his  home  without  accident  or 
loss  of  time.     Being  harnessed  again  at  night,  he 

[293] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


started   alone  for  the  children,   and   brought  his 
charges  safely  home. 

But  say  what  we  may  of  high-bred  dogs  and 
horses,  of  Jersey  and  Ayrshire  cows,  incontrovert- 
ibly  most  important  to  our  prosperity  are  the  birds. 
I  cannot  understand  why  country  folk  are  so  gener- 
ally dull  on  this  subject.  In  a  general  way  they  do 
like  birds,  and  for  some  unexplainable  reason  they 
especially  like  the  robin,  but  they  know  very  little 
of  the  work  of  the  various  families,  and  the  nature 
of  the  various  birds  that  inhabit,  with  them,  their 
homesteads,  and  they  appreciate  very  imperfectly 
their  service.  We  could  afford  to  pay  the  birds 
high  toll  for  their  music  alone,  but  such  music  is  of 
a  scale  far  too  refined  for  the  boor.  Nor  can  such 
a  man  see  that  the  helpers,  who  make  the  world 
habitable  for  us,  must  have  compensative  protec- 
tion and  food.  The  first  duty  of  one  who  goes 
countryward  for  a  home  is  to  form  an  alliance  with 
just  as  many  tribes  of  useful  birds  as  possible.  You 
will  not  be  able  to  understand  them  until  you  have 
made  a  careful  study  of  the  laws  which  govern  their 
communities  and  their  individual  lives.  They 
come  back  to  us  in  the  spring  in  great  flocks,  and 
from  one  town  center  they  divide  into  groups  or 

[294] 


THIRTEEN]  SECURING  OUR   ALLIES 


tribes,  and  then  into  families.  These  families  then 
resort  to  the  same  places  where  their  lives  were 
spent  during  previous  years  —  unless  there  is  a 
general  agreement  that  there  is  good  reason  for  a 
change.  Most  of  these  birds  are  very  methodical, 
both  in  coming  and  going.  Swifts  get  to  Central 
New  York  on  or  about  the  24th  of  April;  catbirds 
about  the  fifth  of  May.  Their  times  for  departure 
are  just  as  accurate,  showing  that  their  social  life, 
in  tribes  and  peoples,  is  as  cooperative  as  with  us. 
With  their  arrival  in  the  spring  begin  work  and 
music,  love  and  family  cooperation.  Bird  home 
life  is  a  model  life.  If  you  have  obligations,  re- 
sponsibilities, duties,  especially  of  a  home  sort,  do 
not  worry,  but  sing.  And  what  a  tremendous 
amount  of  work  these  birds  of  ours  accomplish 
during  their  three  or  four  months'  stay  with  us !  The 
rearing  of  a  bird  family  requires  incessant  labor 
and  incessant  watchfulness. 

A  recent  writer  says,  "  We  are  learning  that  suc- 
cess in  horticulture  and  agriculture  depends  on  a 
good  understanding  of  the  birds."  The  robin, 
the  catbird,  the  song  sparrow,  the  grosbeaks,  and 
most  of  the  thrushes  destroy  vast  quantities  of  in- 
sects, while  the  goldfinches  and  other  seed-eaters 

[2i>0] 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


are  of  great  use  in  destroying  the  seeds  of  noxious 
weeds,  and  the  swift  and  the  nighthawks  sweep  the 
air  of  insect  pests.  Bird  culture  should  mean  a 
systematic  effort  to  encourage  the  approach  of  wild 
birds,  and  the  domestication  of  all  useful  birds  — 
involving  the  supply  of  shelter  and  abundance  of 
food.  This,  after  all,  is  not  so  difficult  a  matter. 
They  take  our  berries  and  cherries  because  they 
have  nothing  else  to  eat.  When  we  have  learned 
to  count  them  into  our  families,  and  to  provide  for 
their  sustenance,  as  we  do  for  our  cows  and  hens, 
we  shall  find  that  the  birds  do  little  harm  to  our 
gardens. 

I  treasure  the  memory  of  a  father  who  used  to 
graft  choice  cherries  into  the  wild  choke  cherries, 
"to  give  the  birds  better  food,  and  what  they 
like."  I  have  a  Tartarian  honeysuckle  hedge, 
and  just  as  my  raspberries  ripen  this  hedge  is  cov- 
ered with  bushels  of  berries  that  the  birds  pro- 
nounce very  fine.  They  prefer  these  to  the  rasp- 
berries that  perch  among  the  thorns.  So  I  find 
that  I  am  cultivating  birds  and  honeysuckles  at  the 
same  time.  Gradually  they  have  come  to  consider 
the  hedge  their  own,  and  I  am  soundly  scolded 
if  I   approach  their  feasts  with  any   appearance 

[296] 


thirteen]  securing   OUR   ALLIES 


of  meddling.  The  high-bush  cranberry  delights 
the  pine  grosbeaks  and  cedar  birds  in  winter.  It 
is  delightful  to  see  this  winter  robin  —  the  superb 
red-necked  grosbeak  —  a  whole  flock  at  a  time, 
like  fire  on  the  snow.  They  sing  like  Jenny  Lind, 
and  they  talk  like  the  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast 
Table.  Mr.  Forbush,  of  Massachusetts,  says, 
"Note  that  the  mulberry  trees,  which  ripen  their 
berries  in  June,  are  a  protection  to  the  cultivated 
cherries,  because  they  ripen  somewhat  earlier." 
Prof.  Beal,  of  Michigan  Agricultural  College, 
names  as  protective  of  strawberries  and  cherries 
the  Russian  mulberry  and  the  shadberry;  and  to 
protect  raspberries  and  blackberries  he  would  add 
the  elderberry  and  the  choke  cherry.  In  September 
and  October,  birds  that  would  meddle  with  the 
peaches  and  grapes  can  be  fed  on  the  wild  black 
cherry  and  the  Virginia  creeper.  As  winter  food 
for  the  birds,  besides  the  viburnums,  which  I  have 
named,  we  can  supply  bittersweet,  pokeberry,  bay- 
berry,  hackberry,  dogwoods,  and  mountain-ash 
berries.  For  these  will  come  together  warblers, 
vireos,  and  cuckoos. 

I  have  an  idea  that  we  can  not  only  draw  a  great 
many  more  birds  in  summer  to  nest  about  us,  but 

[297] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


can  absolutely  revolutionize  bird  life  during  the 
winter.  Many  of  these  little  friends  can  easily 
enough  endure  the  cold;  and,  in  fact,  no  winter 
passes  without  a  few  robins  and  some  others  of  our 
common  birds  are  left  behind  by  the  flocks  that  go 
southward.  Other  sorts  change  their  color,  and 
stay  with  us  as  snow  birds.  I  find  no  diflaculty 
during  the  winter  in  gathering  about  my  house  a 
large  number  of  nuthatches,  chicadees,  purple 
finches,  and  woodpeckers,  by  tying  bones  to  the 
trees  with  a  plenty  of  meat,  and  pieces  of  suet. 
Mrs.  Davenport,  of  Vermont,  adds  to  this  list  of 
birds,  juncos,  linnets,  song  sparrows,  robins,  blue 
jays  and  even  orioles.  All  of  these  she  feeds  with 
hemp  seed,  cracked  corn,  sunflower  seed,  bread 
crumbs,  and  especially  with  bread  made  of  one- 
third  wheat  and  two-thirds  Indian  meal.  She  puts 
up  a  window  shelf,  protected  by  an  awning,  on 
which  she  places  the  food,  and  so  has  the  advan- 
tage of  being  able  to  enjoy  the  birds  while  they  en- 
joy her  gifts.  This  problem  is  not  one  of  senti- 
ment only,  but  of  practical  domestic  economy. 
Not  only  all  summer  are  the  birds  destroying  our 
worst  enemies  —  the  only  ones  that  we  cannot 
alone  compete  with  —  but  all  winter  they  are  hunt- 

[298] 


thirteen]  securing  OUR   ALLIES 


ing  everywhere  for  the  eggs  that  are  hidden  away 
under  the  bark,  and  for  borers  that  are  in  the  trees. 
The  poetry  of  Hf e  always  has  a  practical  side  to  it, 
and  most  practical  affairs,  rightly  worked  out,  are 
full  of  poetry. 

Mr.  Henry  Oldys,  biologist  of  the  Geological 
Survey,  speaks  of  birds  as  national  property.  He 
says,  "Let  the  farmer  remember  that  every  bird 
destroyed,  and  particularly  every  nest  robbed,  is 
equivalent  to  a  definite  increase  in  insects  with 
which  he  already  has  to  struggle,  and  he  will  soon 
appreciate  the  fact  that  he  has  a  personal  interest, 
and  a  strong  one,  in  the  preservation  of  the  birds. 
Robert  Kennicott,  a  most  careful  and  reliable  ob- 
server, ascertained  that  a  single  pair  of  house  wrens 
carried  to  their  young  about  one  thousand  insects  in 
a  day.  At  this  rate  a  young  brood  of  wrens  destroys, 
before  leaving  the  nest,  as  many  as  ten  thousand 
insects.  According  to  the  usual  proportion,  in  the 
food  of  these  birds,  about  six  thousand  of  these 
insects  are  such  as  devastate  crops. 

A  home  where  robins,  bluebirds,  humming 
birds,  wrens,  chipping  sparrows,  catbirds,  and 
orioles  form  an  animated  and  friendly  throng  on 
bush  and  tree  and  sunny  lawn,  or  pour  their  notes 

[299] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


from  familiar  points,  and  where  roses,  honey- 
suckle, violets,  jasmine,  spirea,  and  morning-glories 
abound,  and  fill  the  scene  with  beauty,  while  frag- 
rance floats  in  at  the  open  windows,  is  far  more  at- 
tractive, and  at  the  same  time  of  greater  commercial 
value,  than  one  that  is  bare  of  flowers  and  silent  of 
birds.  "Birds  will  return  year  after  year  to  the 
same  spot,  to  build  their  nests  and  rear  their  young, 
and  when  some  spring  fails  to  bring  the  bluebird  to 
the  apple  tree  or  the  oriole  to  the  elm,  it  is  perhaps 
because  lax  laws  and  untrained  characters  some- 
where to  the  southward  have  destroyed  the  life 
that  was  a  part  of  our  farmstead.  Strengthening 
the  law  and  developing  a  love  for  nature  will  pre- 
vent such  losses." 

When  I  cover  my  cherry  trees  with  mosquito 
netting,  I  always  leave  a  few  uncovered  for  the 
birds.  We  have  had  a  talk  about  it,  and  they  say 
—  which  is  reasonable  —  that  when  folk  live  by 
the  Golden  Rule  they  will  set  cherries  all  along  the 
lines  of  old  fences,  and  in  the  pasture  lots,  so  that 
there  will  be  enough  for  everybody  everywhere, 
and  what  the  birds  take  will  not  be  noticed.  I  be- 
lieve that  they  are  right;  for  when  my  berry  gar- 
dens grew  away  from  a  small  beginning  to  fields 

[300] 


rHiRTEEN]  SECURING   OUR   ALLIES 


that  yielded  hundreds  of  bushels,  the  birds  also 
greatly  increased,  but  what  they  took  was  no  longer 
missed.  I  presume  they  do  not  get  less  than  five 
per  cent,  of  the  crop.  That  is  about  half  what  I 
owe  them  for  music  alone.  I  shall  always  remain 
a  debtor  to  my  catbirds  more  particularly,  and  to 
all  other  bird  visitors.  I  believe  I  will  leave  two 
more  cherry  trees  uncovered  hereafter. 

The  bee  is  another  factor  of  importance  in  coun- 
try life.  I  do  not  say  that  every  family  should,  or 
must  have,  half  a  dozen  hives  of  bees,  but  I  believe 
the  number  of  swarms  should  average  half  a  dozen 
to  all  the  households  of  the  community.  This  is 
partly  for  the  sake  of  food  —  one  of  the  most  de- 
licious and  concentrated  of  all  foods  —  but  still 
more  to  secure  the  aid  of  our  little  friends  in  poUen- 
izing  fruit.  There  are  many  apples,  pears,  and 
other  fruits,  as  we  have  already  seen,  that  cannot 
pollenize  themselves  sufficiently,  and  some  of  them 
not  at  all.  This  is  a  provision  of  nature  to  pre- 
vent uniformity  and  to  secure  evolution.  Differ- 
ent varieties  must  be  brought  together  in  marriage, 
in  order  to  unite  their  good  qualities  in  children. 

The  common  brown  honey  bee  is  from  Germany. 
The  Italian  bees  have  yellow  abdominal  bands,  and 

[301] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


are  said  by  some  to  be  gentler  to  handle.  They  are 
at  least  better  housekeepers  in  the  way  of  debarring 
moths,  while  they  cap  their  combs  more  perfectly. 
The  Carnoleans,  and  Cyprians  or  Syrians  complete 
the  list  of  our  domestic  bees,  and  they  have  the  best 
honey  record.  They  are  harmless  when  not  mo- 
lested, but  act  like  hornets  when  disturbed  at  their 
homes.  What  we  still  need  is  a  longer-tongued 
bee,  able  to  extract  honey  from  red  clover  and 
from  flowers  that  the  ordinary  bee  cannot  probe. 

Besides  the  honey  bee  we  have  five  thousand  vari- 
eties of  bees,  including  bumble  bees,  carpenter 
bees,  burrowing  bees,  cuckoo  bees,  and  potter  bees 
—  all  of  them  useful,  although  some  of  them  do 
more  or  less  mischief  as  well.  The  bumble  bee 
does  us  no  harm,  and  is  especially  valuable  for 
cross-fertilizing  clover.  Among  all  of  the  bees  not 
one  is  more  interesting  than  the  hornet.  I  have 
elsewhere  spoken  of  his  service  in  destroying  the 
aphidse.  The  queen  alone  lives  through  the  win- 
ter, by  crawling  into  some  warm  corner,  possibly 
into  your  garret.  In  the  spring  she  begins  to  make 
paper,  and  starts  a  house.  The  first  eggs  produce 
a  brood  of  small  workers  that  aid  in  house  build- 
ing; the  next  brood  is  of  larger  workers,  and  in  the 

[30^] 


thirteen]  securing   OUR   ALLIES 


early  autumn  a  generation  of  males  and  females  is 
produced.  A  good  observer  says,  "I  would  rather 
have  a  colony  of  hornets  in  my  orchard  when  it  is 
infested  with  slugs,  than  to  have  the  same  number 
of  barrels  of  London  purple  sprayed  on  my  trees." 
They  work  hard  all  day,  picking  lice  or  slugs  from 
the  trees,  which  they  devour  or  carry  to  their 
young. 

If  all  bees  visited,  indiscriminately,  every  sort  of 
flower,  it  would  happen  that  the  pollen  from  one 
species  would  be  carried  to  a  wholly  different 
species,  where  it  would  be  useless.  It  is  desirable 
that  each  kind  of  bee  visit  one  particular  kind  of 
plant,  or  at  least  a  few  kinds.  This  proves  to  be 
the  case,  for  there  are  many  bees  that  never  visit 
more  than  one  sort  of  flowers.  As  the  number  of 
species  of  flowers  is  very  great,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  there  are  many  kinds  of  bees.  In  many  in- 
stances the  mouth  part  of  the  bee  is  nicely  suited  to 
the  flowers  they  select.  Certain  kinds,  with  very 
long  tongues,  suck  nectar  from  long,  tubular  flow- 
ers, such  as  the  yellow-flowered  currant,  while 
others,  with  short  tongues,  make  use  of  shallow 
flowers.  There  are  already  reported  nearly  two 
thousand  different  species  of  wild  bees  in  North 

[303] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


America,  and  it  is  thought  that  the  discovery  and 
description  has  hardly  begun. 

With  modern  appliances  the  management  of  our 
honey  bees  is  not  difficult.  The  head  is  covered 
with  a  broad  shield,  and  the  hands  with  gloves  that 
are  tied  about  the  wrist.  A  little  smoke  of  punky 
wood  is  puffed  into  the  hive,  and  the  supers  that 
are  filled  with  honey  are  easily  removed.  Swarms 
are  gathered  and  hived  with  the  same  protection. 
In  all  cases  promptness  and  decision  are  necessary, 
without  nervous  movements.  The  Falconer  hive 
is  one  of  the  best,  as  it  allows  of  the  easy  removal  of 
the  filled  supers.  When  these  are  removed,  others 
should  be  placed  in  their  stead  at  once.  My  im- 
pression is  that,  with  ordinary  care,  the  amount  of 
honey  taken  from  twenty  swarms  in  a  single  year 
will  hardly  exceed  five  hundred  pounds  —  it  should 
certainly  reach  that  point.  A  portion  of  this  will 
be  brown  or  yellow  honey,  and  not  marketable. 
Very  little  of  it  will  be  unsuitable  for  home  con- 
sumption. As  freezing  weather  approaches,  cush- 
ions of  dry  leaves  or  chopped  straw  are  placed  in 
the  tops  of  the  hives,  and  the  bees  winter  on  their 
out-of-door  stands  quite  safely.  In  the  spring  it 
is  often  necessary  to  feed  the  weaker  hives.     This 

[304] 


thirteen]  securing   OUR   ALLIES 

can  be  done  with  the  waste  or  inferior  honey,  or 
with  sugar. 

There  is  hardly  a  single  hopeless  pest  among  the 
animals  that  you  are  likely  to  meet  with  in  your 
new  country  home.  One  of  the  few  is  the  English 
sparrow,  a  bird  that  has  no  redeeming  qualities  to 
make  his  mischief  endurable.  He  feeds  almost  al- 
together on  grain  or  fruit,  destroying  insects  only 
when  he  must.  He  should  be  driven  from  every 
reputable  homestead,  as  he  can  be  by  persistent 
antagonism  and  by  making  it  comfortable  for  other 
sorts  of  birds.  The  crow  kills  a  few  mice  without 
doubt,  but  he  eats  young  robins.  I  allowed  a  tame 
crow  to  hop  around  my  house  for  a  few  days.  He 
stole  everything  that  he  could  carry  off,  and  one 
morning  there  were  bird  feathers  outside  the  door. 
He  had  raided  one  of  my  catbird  nests  early  in  the 
morning.  This  led  to  a  prompt  remedy.  Black- 
birds are  such  inveterate  corn-pullers,  and  so  much 
disliked  by  pet  birds,  that  they  also  are  left  out  of 
my  commune. 

I  am  sorry  that  to  this  list  of  hopeless  outcasts 
I  must  add  the  red  squirrel.  If  one  appears  dur- 
ing nesting  time  in  my  trees,  the  whole  lawn  is  in 
a  flutter  of   excitement.     They  eat  young  birds 

[305] 


THE  COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


and  eggs,  besides  boring  holes  in  our  roofs,  to  nest 
in  our  attics. 

I  am  puzzled  whether  to  exclude  the  cat  as  the 
most  malign  and  mischievous  of  all  creatures,  or  to 
admit  her  to  our  country  family  as  the  most  be- 
nign, helpful,  and  lovable  of  all  animals,  really 
fit  to  be  a  household  deity,  as  she  was  in  Egypt. 
Boxer  is  surely  a  very  useful  fellow,  clearing  the 
house  of  mice  and  the  barn  of  rats.  There  is  a 
certain  poise  and  dignity  about  this  animal,  and  a 
masterly  bearing,  if  we  can  only  keep  him  within  his 
appropriate  limits.  He  guards  my  oat  bin  and  my 
storage  rooms  admirably.  I  could  sing  his  praises 
cheerfully,  for  he  really  has  also  an  affection  for 
me  —  nearly  all  animals  take  to  me,  and  the  rest 
take  after  me.  But  in  bird  season  Boxer  invariably 
goes  into  a  huge  warren,  ten  feet  square,  which  he 
is  compelled  to  use  for  his  palace  during  the  sum- 
mer—  that  is,  through  the  whole  of  the  bird-nesting 
period.  In  September  he  has  once  more  his  free- 
dom to  range  the  property.  In  no  other  possible 
way  can  I  prevent  the  demolition  of  my  catbird 
and  robin  nests  and  the  slaughter  of  the  innocents. 
He  does  not  like  confinement;  but,  then,  he  has  room 
and  shelter,  with   plenty  of  food,  and  comes  out 

[306] 


thirteen]  securing   OUR   ALLIES 


fat  as  a  winter  woodchuck.  In  another  huge  cage 
is  shut  all  summer  another  large,  yellow  cat  —  Li 
Hung  Chang;  but  I  believe  the  birds  call  him  The 
Foreign  Devil.  You  should  hear  the  catbirds  jaw 
him;  and  once  in  a  while  they  take  advantage  of  his 
captivity  to  perch  over  the  cage  and  jeer  at  him.  I 
have  seven  or  eight  nests  of  this  favorite  bird,  and 
when  they  concentrate  vituperation  on  any  crea- 
ture it  is  awful;  it  is  probably  profane.  On  the 
whole,  we  cannot  get  along  very  well  in  the  country 
without  pussy,  although  it  is  very  difficult  in  bird 
time  to  get  on  with  him.  For  intelligence,  inside 
certain  limits,  the  cat  is  certainly  a  very  marvelous 
creature,  but  he  is  always  a  relative  of  the  tiger. 
There  are  noble  cats  —  almost  honest  cats,  and 
there  are  cats  that  deserve  all  the  execration  of  man 
and  bird.  Prof.  Hodge  insists  that  these  pets  of 
ours  are  destroying  at  least  nine-tenths  of  the  most 
beneficial  birds  that  undertake  to  nest  about  our 
homes. 

If  I  were  writing  for  city  readers,  I  should  say, 
try  to  get  along  without  cats  altogether.  It  will 
never  be  possible  to  create  a  bird  paradise  into 
which  this  animal  may  be  admitted.  Within  a  few 
years,  however,  by  adopting  the  plan  I  have  sug- 

[307] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


gested,  that  is,  of  shutting  up  my  cats  during  the 
whole  of  the  bird-nesting  season,  I  am  not  only  mul- 
tiplying the  more  common  birds,  but  am  winning 
to  me  the  grosbeaks,  indigo  birds,  scarlet  tanagers, 
wood  thrushes,  song  sparrows,  and  others  that 
rarely  draw  near  our  houses ;  and  all  these,  domes- 
ticating themselves  about  my  house,  my  berry 
fields  and  my  barns,  are  making  of  them  a  sort  of 
Garden  of  Eden.  At  the  same  time  I  am  reaping 
a  benefit  in  all  ways  quite  equal  to  that  given  to  the 
birds.  Joining  our  forces,  we  are  able  to  absolutely 
exclude  the  English  sparrow.  He  has  given  up  all 
attempts  to  cross  our  boundary  line. 

In  some  of  the  French  villages  boards  are  set  up 
with  the  following  inscriptions : 

**  Hedgehog:  Lives  upon  mice,  snails,  and  wire- 
worms  —  animals  injurious  to  vegetation.  Don't 
kill  a  hedgehog. 

"  Toad:  Helps  agriculture;  destroys  twenty  to 
thirty  insects  hourly.     Don't  kill  a  toad. 

^'Cockchafer  and  its  Larvce:  Deadly  enemies  to 
the  farmers;  lays  seventy  to  one  hundred  eggs. 
Kill  the  cockchafer. 

''Birds:  Each  Department  of  France  loses  yearly 

[308] 


thirteen]  securing   OUR    ALLIES 


many  millions  of  francs  through  the  injury  done  by 
insects.     Don't  kill  the  birds." 

There  is  a  good  lesson  in  these  bulletins,  and  it 
was  not  a  bad  idea  for  the  government  to  under- 
take this  sort  of  instruction.  Some  one  has  re- 
cently discovered  that  there  is  no  watch  dog  equal 
to  a  peacock  as  a  guardian  against  thieves  and 
marauders.  Perched  on  the  roof  of  an  outbuild- 
ing or  an  arbor,  this  bird  will  announce  in  shrill 
notes,  that  can  be  heard  half  a  mile  away,  the  pres- 
ence of  suspicious-looking  strangers.  Their  eyes 
are  always  open,  and  they  have  the  ability  to  see 
at  almost  any  angle.  I  am  glad  that  we  can  find  a 
good  excuse  for  allowing  these  beautiful  creatures 
to  strut  about  our  lawns  —  an  excuse  beyond  that 
of  mere  ornament. 

This  book  invites  you  out  of  the  city,  not  to  a 
mere  home  among  the  trees  and  flowers,  but  to  a 
new  and  higher  social  order  —  a  cooperation  more 
complete  than  was  ever  before  possible  between 
men,  creatures,  and  things.  The  drift  toward  con- 
centered life  was  needful  to  accumulate  capital. 
The  new  swing  of  population  is  carrying  this  cap- 
ital  outward,   to    a    more   equable    distribution. 

[309] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapteh 


Electrical  energy  at  the  same  time  meets  the  mod- 
ern sciences,  to  enable  us  to  apply  them  to  land  cul- 
ture. We  are  enabled,  as  never  before,  to  study 
living  nature  about  us.  We  must  bear  in  mind 
that  as  we  have  not  reached  the  end  of  evolution, 
neither  have  our  companions.  If  we  do  not  have 
all  the  birds  we  want,  it  is  because  we  do  not  know 
enough  about  rearing  them  or  protecting  them. 
No  one  has  yet  produced  the  most  beautiful  rose, 
or  the  most  delicious  peach,  or  the  most  useful  bird, 
or  the  noblest  man,  or  anything  else  that  the  world 
is  capable  of  yielding.  "By  proper  care  we  can 
have  a  world  full,  not  only  of  such  birds  as  we  have 
now,  but  of  birds  with  sweeter  song  and  more  beau- 
tiful plumage.  In  presence  of  these  infinite  pos- 
sibilities for  good  or  for  ill,  we  must  above  all  re- 
member that  every  human  action  tends  to  make 
the  world  a  garden  or  a  desert  —  a  paradise  of  joy 
and  beauty  or  a  vale  of  tears."  John  Burroughs 
says  that  to  produce  and  multiply  endlessly,  with- 
out ever  reaching  the  last  possibility  of  excellence, 
is  the  law  of  nature. 


{310] 


THIRTEEN]  SECURING   OUR   ALLIES 

Farewell,  faretoell !  bid  this  I  tell 
To  thee,  thou  Wedding  Guest  — 
He  prmjeth  tvell  ^cho  loveth  xvell 
Both  man  and  bird  and  beast. 
He  prayeth  best  who  loveth  best 
All  things  both  great  and  small; 
For  the  dear  God  who  loveth  us, 
He  made  and  loveth  all. 


[311] 


CHAPTER    FOURTEEN 

CULTIVATING  THE  BEAUTIFUL 


OOME  one  says  that  cleanliness  is  next  to  Godli- 
ness; we  may  go  farther,  and  say  it  is  Godliness. 
There  is  no  possible  excuse  for  unsightly  or  un- 
seemly conditions  in  the  country.  We  have  come 
out  of  the  city  to  command  our  conditions,  and  can 
command  them.  But  we  cannot  do  this  if  we  our- 
selves are  untrained  and  uncouth.  A  man  cannot 
make  his  garden  anything  more  beautiful  than  his 
own  soul.  And  that  is  just  what  you  want  to  con- 
sider, that  nasty  slop  holes  and  old  brush  piles  and 
stinking  cellars  and  unshapely  yards  are  just  your- 
self.  What  you  are  you  will  do.  So  you  will  first 
have  to  think  finely,  and  to  will  finely.  Then  the 
effort  to  create  a  noble  place  will  react  to  ennoble 
yourself.  Your  handsome  lawn  means  that  you 
can  think  handsomely;  your  clean  orchards  and 
gardens  mean  that  you  can  feel  purely.  John  Rus- 
kin  says  that  the  same  laws  underlie  spiritual  beauty 


CULTIVATION 


that  are  associated  with  physical  beauty.  He 
names  them  as  purity  —  a  type  of  divine  energy ; 
as  unity  —  a  type  of  divine  comprehensiveness ; 
repose  —  a  type  of  divine  law.  These  principles 
are  found  in  all  beauty,  from  that  of  the  lily  to  the 
character  of  Jesus.  A  notable  preacher  says,  "It 
is  not  mere  luxury  which  seeks  for  the  beautiful. 
The  man  who  scorns  this  side  of  life  is  like  one  who 
has  lost  an  ear  or  an  eye,  and  ridicules  people  who 
have  the  full  use  of  all  their  senses.  The  atten- 
tion which  the  people  give  to  the  development  of  the 
beautiful  is  one  of  the  tests  of  civilization.  The 
hunger  of  the  eye  may  be  as  real  as  that  of  the 
mouth.  The  poet  sees  an  ideal  world,  and  he  sees 
it  from  the  standpoint  of  the  beautiful.  The  great- 
est artist  that  this  country  has  ever  produced  was  a 
landscape  architect,  Frederick  Law  Olmsted. 
The  man  who  can  aid  nature  in  doing  her  best,  who 
can  take  the  forms  of  the  trees  and  the  shrubs,  the 
delicate  shading  of  colors,  the  texture  of  the  leaves, 
the  outline  of  the  landscape,  and  blend  all  into  a 
harmonious  and  beautiful  picture,  is  a  master." 
Every  town  and  village  should  have  such  a  man  at 
its  command,  if  possible. 

This  love  of  the  beautiful  and  the  effort  to  create 

[313] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


the  beautiful  is,  or  should  be,  associated  invariably 
with  country  work  and  country  home-making. 
Here  are  a  couple  of  letters.  One  of  them  has  laid 
in  my  drawer  for  a  good  while,  and  has  led  to  some 
exchange  of  plans. 

"Dear  Sir:— I  am  somewhere  between  twenty 
and  thirty  —  no  matter  about  exact  dates ;  but  I  am 
at  home  with  father  and  mother.  The  latter  loves 
flowers,  and  so  do  I.  She  has  hungered  for  them 
all  her  married  life,  but  what  she  gets  she  gets  her- 
self, and  plants  with  my  help.  Now  I  want  to  in- 
duce father  to  see  that  he  is  living  a  too  narrow  life. 
He  thinks,  and  says,  that  he  has  no  time  for  the  or- 
namental. He  is  not  rich,  but  he  is  well-to-do,  and 
he  can  afford  to  spend  on  refinements.  Don't 
think  our  place  is  slovenly,  for  it  is  not.  We  have 
a  decent  orchard,  and  some  good  trees  along  the 
roadside,  and  mother  and  I  have  a  few  fine  flower- 
ing plants.  What  I  mean  is  that  the  whole  place 
shows,  at  a  glance,  that  it  is  run  for  the  stomach, 
and  not  for  the  brain  or  character.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve this  is  necessary.  I  have  a  notion  that  a  right 
sort  of  country  place  ought  to  show  that  those  who 
own  it  are  thinking  of  something  besides  crops  to 

[314] 


fourteen]  cultivation 


eat  and  sell.  1  would  like  to  hear  less  about  golden 
streets  by  and  by,  and  more  about  green,  clean 
lawns  right  off  —  now.  Brush  heaps  and  slop  holes 
do  not  belong  here  any  more  than  in  Heaven. 
That's  my  religion.  I  am  going  to  apologize  to  you, 
a  stranger,  by  sending  you  some  seeds  of  a  thorn- 
less  gleditschia." 

And  that  is  how  I  first  got  one  of  the  handsomest 
trees  on  my  lawns  —  the  seed  came  from  a  Kansas 
girl  who  was  hungry  for  the  beautiful,  and  who 
wrote  about  it.  Blessed  are  they  that,  having  eyes, 
see. 

Here  is  another  letter  that  explains  itself : 

"Dear  Sir: — You  cannot  conceive  what  pleasure 
I  get  by  reading  about  the  beautiful  country.  I 
had  lived  in  a  big  city  all  my  life,  and  had  few 
chances  at  green  fields.  At  last  it  was  our  fortune 
to  go  to  the  country  to  live.  My  husband  had  an 
opening  as  a  mill-hand,  and  it  took  us  close  by  a 
good-sized  village.  We  had  seven  acres  of  garden 
and  orchard.  At  first  everything  looked  beautiful 
—  everything.  I  could  have  kissed  pigweeds,  and 
I  did  make  bouquets  of  Canada  thistles.  I  got  out 
of  sight  of  folk,  and  just  sat  down  in  the  grass  and 

[315] 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


said  Howd'y  do  to  the  dandelions.  I  hugged  a  big 
mullen  stalk,  and  just  thanked  it  for  coming  up  near 
the  door.  Husband  smiled,  and  bought  me  holly- 
hock seed;  and  he  let  me  help  him  plant  corn.  It 
was  a  full  year  before  I  could  settle  down  to  making 
much  difference  between  weeds  and  useful  things. 
I  think  still  that  some  of  the  weeds  are  the  hand- 
somest things  in  the  world,  and  they  must  be  use- 
ful somehow,  only  we  don't  yet  know  how.  1 
had  to  make  a  difference,  because  I  found  that  the 
beets  and  carrots  could  not  be  grown  without  being 
'weeded.'  Now  I  have  some  pinks  and  roses,  and 
a  big  clump  of  tiger  lilies,  and  I  have  some  lilacs 
and  syringas.  But  I  still  think  the  big  thing  is  not 
to  go  gallivanting  all  over  creation  to  find  rare 
things  and  make  your  place  stylish,  but  to  be  able 
to  see  the  sweet  things  right  at  home.  So  I  have 
been  collecting  out  of  our  woods  and  swamps,  and 
have,  oh,  such  a  lot  of  fine  things  —  ferns  and 
leatherwood,  and  witch  hazel,  and  gentian  and 
lobelia,  two  beautiful  orchids,  seven  kinds  of 
mint,  and  I  thought  you  would  understand  me, 
so  I  have  written  to  you.  I  have  no  one  who 
quite  understands  me  here,  but  my  husband  looks 
on  with  sympathy  and  good  nature.'* 

[316] 


fourteen]  cultivation 


i  The  every-day  world,  with  a  human  soul  in  it,  is 
a  garden,  and  a  weed  patch  is  beautiful;  but  the 
glory  of  the  world  is  that  it  can  be  improved,  and 
we  are  here  to  think  it  out,  and  feel  it  out,  and  work 
it  out. 

Intensive  farming,  which  is  the  only  farming  that 
we  are  now  considering,  has  the  advantage  that  it 
involves  the  removal  of  all  ugly  waste  spots.  It 
cannot  afford  sloughs,  brush  piles,  and  old  heaps  of 
refuse  —  these  are  the  very  spots  where  the  best 
crops  can  be  raised.  "There,"  said  a  young 
farmer,  "that  nasty  puddle  is  worth  thirty  dollars 
a  year."  Then,  going  farther,  he  said,  *'  That  hor- 
rible barnyard  should  be  reduced  one  half  in  size, 
and  the  rest  of  it  drained.  A  row  of  twenty  plum 
trees  would  grow  in  the  cut-off  part,  each  worth 
five  dollars  a  year.  Then  over  those  barns  vines 
should  be  growing  and  bearing  Wordens  and  Niaga- 
ras and  Lindleys,  worth  thirty  or  forty  dollars  a  year 
more."  Down  a  ravine,  full  of  stones  and  broken 
crockery,  he  tramped  with  indignant  steps.  "A 
splendid  place  here,"  he  cried,  "for  strawberries  or 
for  gooseberries,  or,  if  you  prefer,  it  could  be  a 
valuable  vineyard.  Grow  lilies  in  the  rows  with 
the  grapes,  and  set  down  this  plot  for  fifty  dollars  a 

[317] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


year  more."  Striding  along  beside  the  fences,  he 
said,  "Here  should  be  a  windbreak  of  evergreens, 
and  there  should  be  one  of  Tartarian  honeysuckle 
or  high-bush  cranberry,  giving  bushels  of  food  for 
useful  birds.  The  windbreaks  and  birds  would  be 
worth  another  large  sum."  In  this  way  he  walked 
over  a  farm  of  forty  acres.  It  was  one  of  those 
places  that  "don't  pay."  The  reason  was  plainly 
because  the  best  part  of  the  land  was  going  to  waste, 
and  that  no  attention  was  being  paid  to  that  do- 
mestic economy  which  makes  everything  at  the 
same  time  useful  and  beautiful.  To  follow  out  the 
suggestions  of  the  new  owner  would  transform  the 
whole  place  into  a  garden.  This  is  what  must 
come  about  in  relation  to  all  home-making  in  the 
country.  Small  homesteads  will  be  the  rule,  and 
these  will  cultivate  the  beautiful  as  well  as  the 
useful. 
x(  It  is  so  easy  to  make  the  beautiful  and  the  useful 
work  together,  that  I  wonder  that  they  are  ever 
divorced.  A  handsome  lawn,  fine  hedges,  a  clean 
and  shaded  highway,  a  shrubbery  giving  glimpses 
of  continuous  bloom,  raise  the  market  value  of  the 
property.  I  knew  a  man  who  shot  a  breachy  cow, 
and  then  smilingly  paid  a  fifty  dollar  fine,  saying: 

[318] 


foubteen]  cultivation 


"It  was  a  thousand  dollars  in  my  pocket.  The 
animal,  breaking  loose  in  the  night,  would  soon  have 
torn  my  hedges  and  undone  thirty  years  of  work, 
care,  and  cost."  The  money  value  of  the  orna- 
mental is  not  easily  overestimated.  My  own 
hedges,  if  extended  in  one  line,  would  be  a  mile  long. 
With  about  four  acres  planted  to  trees  and  shrubs, 
and  five  to  berries,  orchards  and  vineyards,  I  am 
able  to  sell  $1,000  to  $1,200  worth  of  fruit,  honey, 
and  vegetables  annually.  If  the  flowers  went  to 
market  the  cash  income  would  be  considerably  in- 
creased. My  drives  are  in  length  not  less  than  half 
a  mile,  yet  they  are  positive  economy.  Ileaching 
about  the  house,  and  around  the  barn,  and  into  the 
hearts  of  the  gardens,  they  are  too  convenient  at 
every  pomt  to  be  spared. 

The  street-side  should  be  particularly  devoted 
to  the  beautiful.  Here  we  may  plant  many  of  the 
fruit  trees  for  shade,  or  we  may  select  such  superb 
blossoming  trees  as  the  catalpa  or  the  linden.  The 
grouping  of  evergreens  down  a  roadway  is  often 
agreeable.  In  some  New  England  towns,  and  a 
few  New  York  towns,  I  have  seen  the  choicer 
shrubs  in  full  bloom  within  reach  of  the  hands  of 
pedestrians,  yet  have  been  surprised  that  they  were 

[319] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


rarely  plucked.  The  lilac  reaches  to  you  its  per- 
fume, and  the  cherry  tree  its  fruit  in  the  suburbs  and 
main  streets  of  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and 
Louisville,  Ky.  Why  not?  This  is  vastly  more 
human  than  cultivating  your  fine  things  behind 
board  fences,  or  stone  walls,  or  even  hedges. 
Flower  beds  in  the  street  are  better  than  cows 
and  swine.  We  shall  probably  see,  by  and  by, 
all  of  our  ugly,  weed-bedraggled  highways  turned 
into  a  great,  continuous  public  garden,  reaching 
everywhere  among  the  rich  and  the  poor,  and 
binding  all  homes  together  with  bands  of  beauty 
and  good- will.  In  one  sense  we  are  all  one  family, 
and  while  we  should  develop  well-defined  indi- 
viduality, we  must  remember  what  Emerson  says, 
that  we  can  "make  society  out  of  nothing  but 
individuals"  —  all  other  people  constitute  masses. 
In  the  country  we  must  never  get  lost  in  indi- 
vidual tastes  and  turn  our  independence  into 
idiosyncrasy.  There  is  a  social  exclusiveness,  but 
there  is  an  equally  offensive  unsocial  seclusiveness. 
The  sense  of  remoteness  from  others  is  to  many 
intolerable;  to  others  it  is  the  controlling  sentiment. 
I  have  a  neighbor  who  owns,  but  cannot  occupy, 
seventy  acres,  and  he  is  constantly  bewailing  his 

[  320  ] 


rouRTEEN]  CULTIVATION 


lack  of  elbow  room.  A  very  lively  sort  of  person 
can  occupy  the  whole  of  twenty  acres.  I  mean  he 
can  just  about  fill  twenty  acres  plumb-full  of  him- 
self —  his  whims,  his  notions,  his  experiments. 
But  most  people  cannot  fill  out  more  than  five  or 
ten  acres.  Farms  of  one  hundred  acres  are,  for 
the  most  part,  either  left  for  nature  to  fill  up,  or  are 
occupied  by  the  fringed-out  edges  of  the  owner's 
purposing  —  his  unfinished  work,  his  untrimmed 
orchards,  his  half-cultivated  corn  fields. 

When  I  began  laying  out  my  present  home,  a 
member  of  the  Hayseed  family,  driving  by,  asked 
me  if  I  was  staking  out  a  railroad.  I  told  him  the 
stakes  meant  lines  of  curving  hedges.  "How  long 
will  it  take  you  to  get  all  that  work  done?"  "I 
will  get  the  trees  set  within  two  years.  These 
spruces  will  not  all  live;  I  must  fill  the  vacancies 
next  year."  "  How  much  will  it  all  cost  .'*"  '*  Sev- 
eral hundred  dollars,  and  in  the  long  run  thou- 
sands." "When  will  you  get  your  money  back.''" 
"The  doing  of  it  is  worth  all  that  it  will  cost,  be- 
cause it  will  grow  up  a  crop  of  thoughts  in  my  soul. 
But  in  five  years  I  will  get  some  cash  returns  —  not 
much  of  it,  however,  inside  of  eight  or  ten  years." 
"Aren't   you  a   fool.^"     "Very   likely,  if   judged 

[321] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


by  the  common  standard.  But,  my  friend,  did  you 
ever  read  that  *  man  cannot  live  by  bread  alone '  ? 
Now,  hark  you,  I  have  thirteen  acres.  I  will  so 
raise  the  price  of  these  thirteen  acres  that  in  fifteen 
years  they  will  be  worth  more  in  money  than  your 
ninety-five  acres,  and  while  I  will  have  one-third  of 
them  to  ornament,  I  will  get  more  income  from  the 
rest  than  you  will  get  from  your  whole  farm."  He 
called  on  me  last  fall,  and  walked  about  through 
my  hedges,  shrubbery,  gardens,  orchards.  "  Wal !" 
he  said,  *'  I  didn't  conceit  you  could  do  it,  but  you 
did.  You've  the  handsomest  place  in  Central 
New  York  —  made  out  of  an  old  pasture  and  or- 
chard —  and  it  was  pretty  shallow  soil  at  that  — 
some  of  it  was.  You've  got  it  drained;  the  soil  is 
strong  and  rich.  You  are  making  more  cash  off  it 
than  we  fellows  can  with  big  farms.  You've  got  all 
the  handsomest  flowers,  and  all  the  new  fruits. 
Your  railroad  track  is  just  the  completest  lot  of 
roadway  I  ever  see.  It  goes  to  every  part  of  your 
place  with  solid  bottom.  The  hedges  are  splen- 
did. You've  cultivated  the  beautiful,  and,  by 
gosh!  you've  made  money  at  it.  How  much  is  yer 
place  worth  —  not  less  than  $25,000,  hey  ?  You 
sold  off  four  acres  for  $5,000  besides.     You've  got 

[322] 


FOURTEEN]  CULTIVATION 


nine  acres  —  as  pretty  a  thing  as  I  ever  saw  or  ex- 
pect to  see.  How  much  have  you  sold  from  it  this 
year?"  I  showed  him  my  accounts,  which  netted 
me  over  eleven  hundred  dollars  for  sales  inside  of 
twelve  months.  "Man  alive!"  he  said.  "Here's 
no  big  sale  of  anything  except  apples,  but  there's 
honey,  and  cherries,  and  currants,  and  berries,  and 
plums,  and  trees,  and  vinegar,  and  cider,  and  chick- 
ens, and  eggs,  and  every  dollar's  worth  sold  to  pri- 
vate customers.  You  don't  mean  to  say  you  sold 
all  these  summer  apples  at  eighty  cents  to  one  dol- 
lar a  bushel  ?  Why,  mine  rotted  on  the  ground  — 
except  a  few  that  a  pedler  paid  me  twenty  cents  a 
bushel  for.  And  your  own  cider  mill  has  ground 
up  over  forty  barrels  of  drops,  and  of  unsalable 
stock,  so  far  —  and  it  is  only  September  20th  ? 
Got  an  engine  of  your  own,  eh  ?  and  a  cider  press  ? 
and  a  shop  for  repair  ?  How  much  was  there  saved 
on  those  forty  barrels.^  Vinegar  twenty  cents  a 
gallon,  at  least  two  gallons  to  a  bushel  from  early 
apples,  and  three  from  later  fruit.  That  would  be 
from  a  dollar  to  two  dollars  a  barrel  from  what  I've 
let  rot.  Cider  at  twenty- five  cents  a  gallon !  Lordy, 
man!  Why,  your  drops  average  two  dollars  a 
barrel,  and  you  have  sold  your  other  apples  at  three 

[323] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


dollars!  Well,  that  is  because  you  have  got  your 
own  customers." 

I  let  him  look  over  the  day-book  as  long  as  he 
liked,  and  then  asked  him  if  he  thought  that,  all  in 
all,  it  did  not  pay  to  cultivate  the  beautiful. 
"  Yaas,"  he  said,  "  if  you  have  sense  to  do  it.  But, 
then,  you  have  done  more  than  that.  You've  been 
and  got  your  customers,  and  you've  suited  them 
with  the  very  finest  stuff,  and  you've  put  yer 
weight  down,  where  the  rest  of  us  are  weak.  We 
grow  a  big  lot  of  stuff,  and  then  lack  a  market. 
There  is  one  more  thing  you've  got  —  the  very  best 
storage  cellars  I  ever  saw.  Don't  think  they  cost 
much  more  than  our  cellars,  either.  Here  are 
proper  bins,  clean  as  waxed,  no  bad  odors,  a  brook 
running  through,  solid  walls,  ceiled  over,  dark 
when  you  choose,  easy  to  keep  tight,  and  just  as 
easy  to  ventilate. 

"Well,  here  it  is  again,  croquet  ground  and  lily 
beds,  and  roses  blossoming  in  September!  Can't 
all  of  us  go  into  that.  But  we  might  have  more  fine 
trees,  and  grapevines  on  the  barns,  and  hollyhocks, 
and  we  can  have  windbreaks  and  some  hedges. 
We  could  clean  up  rubbish,  get  rid  of  old  waste, 
broken  trees,  and  useless  fences,  and  make  money 

[324] 


fourteen]  cultivation 


at  it.  I  guess,  Powell,  you  are  right;  there  is 
money  in  the  beautiful.  How  is  a  fellow  to  get  at 
it  ?"  I  told  him  I  thought  that  people  in  the  coun- 
try did  not  have  the  right  sort  of  reading,  and  in  the 
second  place  they  did  not  hear  or  see  what  was 
about  them.  "Write  us  a  book,"  he  said;  "make 
it  plain,  practical,  straightforward,  and  helpful. 
I'll  read  it." 

^  I  have  kept  this  idea  of  the  beautiful  in  view  in  all 
my  chapters.  It  must  never  be  lost  sight  of  in 
making  a  true  country  home.  In  selecting  location, 
m  building,  in  planting,  and  in  all  other  ways,  we 
seek  the  trinity  of  Plato  —  "The  Beautiful,  the 
True,  and  the  Good."  One  thing  about  this  work 
is  that  it  is  very  catching.  One  man,  working  out 
an  ideal,  sets  his  neighbors  at  it.  The  influence 
spreads,  and  the  example  will  constantly  be  im- 
proved upon.  A  recent  writer  says,  "I  know  a 
city  that  was  called  by  Sir  Edwin  Arnold  the  Venice 
of  America  because  of  its  beauty.  There  is  one 
street  in  that  city  more  beautiful  than  any  other; 
there  is  one  block  on  that  street  the  most  beautiful 
of  all.  In  that  block  stands  the  residence  of  a 
United  States  Senator,  and  in  front  of  his  residence 
the  walks  turn  about  two  or  three  maple  trees,  that 

[325] 


THE   COUNTRY     HOME 


they  may  be  saved ;  and  there  is  not  a  street  in  that 
city  in  which  the  attempt  is  made  to  bring  the  side- 
walk down  to  the  grade  of  the  street,  if  valuable 
trees  must  be  destroyed."  It  is  said  of  Judge  Con- 
ger, that  when  a  man  hitched  his  horse  to  a  valu- 
able tree,  he  was  well  scored ;  and  when  he  offered 
to  pay  for  the  tree,  the  Judge  said,  "You  poor  fool! 
it  took  God  Almighty  one  hundred  years  to  make 
that  tree,  and  you  won't  live  long  enough  to  pay 
your  debt."  Man  who  spoils  is  the  same  man  who 
can  create  and  improve.  We  have  a  century  be- 
hind of  us  of  mutilation;  we  must  have  a  century 
ahead  of  sympathy  and  cooperation  with  nature. 
This  must  involve  not  only  work  on  the  part  of  our 
government,  but  on  the  part  of  individuals.  We 
must  learn  the  great  truth  that  man  can  cultivate 
the  beautiful  and  make  money  at  it.  The  eco- 
nomics of  the  country  home  take  in  the  flowers 
and  the  trees,  as  well  as  the  beets  and  the  turnips. 


[326] 


CHAPTER    FIFTEEN 
HAPPY    ANIMALS 


1  ERHAPS  I  have  said  enough  already  about  mak- 
ing our  animals  happy,  but  I  can  afford  a  short 
chapter  to  my  hobby.  I  remember  with  sweet  ten- 
derness a  little  mother  who,  when  a  sudden  storm 
came  up,  fixed  open  umbrellas  over  her  hens,  that 
were  hitched  by  their  legs  to  keep  them  from  set- 
ting. The  less  merciful  wind  lifted  the  umbrellas 
into  the  tops  of  neighboring  apple  trees.  All  the 
same,  the  little  mother  had  done  her  best,  and 
shown  that  she  had  a  heart.  The  hens  clucked  on 
in  the  teeth  of  the  storm,  and  oiled  themselves  from 
nature's  oil  can. 

A  neighbor,  who  had  collected  the  water  from 
the  hills  into  his  stable  yard,  where  he  had  a  splen- 
did fountain  bubbling  fresh  for  his  horses,  built 
over  it  a  great  well-house.  I  asked  him  why  he 
did  it,  and  he  said  it  was  purely  to  save  time. 
*' Perhaps,  sir,"  he  said,  "you  never  noticed  that 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


when  you  lead  out  horses  to  drink,  they  spend  a 
great  deal  of  time  looking  around.  A  few  swal- 
lows, and  then  a  long  look  over  the  landscape  — 
they  like  it  right  well.  They  hear  everything  going 
on,  and  see  as  much  as  we  do,  in  my  opinion. 
Horses,  sir,  are  not  stupid  creatures;  they  are  very 
observing,  and  enjoy  landscapes  and  pleasant  sur- 
roundings as  much  as  they  do  the  green  grass; 
that,  sir,  is  as  I  look  at  it.  Now  if  you  have  nine 
horses  to  lead  out  to  water,  and  each  one  takes  up 
twenty  minutes,  it  uses  up  about  three  hours  time 
—  half  of  an  afternoon.  I  can't  afford  it,  so  I  built 
this  house  over  the  water,  and  the  animals  drink 
right  along,  and  get  through  with  it.  It  takes  about 
half  an  hour  to  satisfy  the  whole  of  them.  Merely 
a  question  of  farm  economy,  sir.  Sentiment  is  a 
good  thing,  if  it  doesn't  cost  too  much.  I  presume 
that  as  you  keep  only  one  horse,  you  get  on  very 
well  with  a  tank  uncovered."  I  had  noticed  the 
same  habit  with  my  Morgan  mare,  but  had  at- 
tributed it  to  the  rare  intelligence  and  the  really 
poetic  instinct  of  that  breed  of  horses;  they  are  al- 
most human.  But  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  all 
animals  love  the  beautiful.  Following  an  opposite 
track  from  my  neighbor,  I  would  provide  for  this 

[328] 


fifteen]  happy   animals 

animal  sentiment,  and  cultivate  their  taste  for  the 
beautiful. 

Try  an  experiment  in  your  barnyard.  Open  it  well 
to  the  south  and  east;  make  it  clean  and  keep  it 
sweet;  slope  the  ground  to  keep  it  always  dry  and 
comfortable  —  underdrain  if  necessary.  Then  let 
your  animals  sleep  there.  Go  out  about  nine  or 
ten  of  a  moonlight  night,  and  see  what  you  may  see 

—  as  happy  a  sight,  I  will  warrant,  as  you  will  find 
inside  your  own  household.  The  cows  will  be  ly- 
ing down  to  face  the  moon  and  landscape.  They 
will  be  chewing  cud,  and  at  the  same  time  evidently 
meditating.  That  they  are  figuring  out  Euclid 
propositions  I  don't  suppose;  but  they  are  study- 
ing nature  in  their  realm  —  it  may  be  as  wide  a 
realm  as  our  own.  Cows  treated  in  this  way  make 
morally  better  behaved  cows,  as  a  rule. 

I  see  no  reason  why  our  cows  should  not  have 
box  stalls,  with  running  water,  as  well  as  our  horses. 
We  have  so  far  done  very  little  to  humanize  the  cow 

—  probably  as  little  as  for  any  creature  associated 
with  us.  It  is  only  for  milk,  and  for  butter,  and  for 
beef,  that  we  have  cared  for  her.  Some  day  there 
will  be  a  breed  of  cows  as  intelligent  as  horses  and 
dogs,  and  cleanly  in  their  habits.     Going  to  my 

[329] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

vacation  home,  while  preaching  in  St.  Louis,  I  was 
told,  "  You  will  have  to  kill  that  pet  Ayrshire  cow  of 
yours ;  she  tried  to  kill  her  own  calf,  and  it  will  take 
a  regiment  to  milk  her."  Going  to  the  barnyard,  I 
found  her  tied  up  in  a  tight  frame,  with  long  pegs 
in  front  and  behind  her  fore  legs,  and  similar  pegs 
confining  her  hind  legs.  Then  one  man,  with  a 
long  fly-brush,  dusted  the  flies  from  her,  while  an- 
other gingerly  undertook  to  draw  her  milk.  In 
spite  of  ropes  and  pegs  and  bars,  she  made  it  lively 
for  them.  I  put  a  rope  around  her  horns,  and  led 
her  out  to  some  delicious  grass.  I  did  this  two  or 
three  times,  without  making  any  remarks  to  her. 
Then  one  morning  I  went  to  the  gate,  and  holding 
up  the  rope,  said,  "Juno,  hold  your  horns,  and  let 
me  put  this  on  quietly,  and  you  shall  have  your 
grass."  It  was  a  good  half  hour's  argument,  but 
at  last  she  brought  her  head  to  the  bars,  and  actu- 
ally helped  to  get  the  rope  around  the  horns.  In- 
side a  single  week  she  would  stand  quietly  any- 
where in  the  open  meadow,  while  a  decent  man 
could  milk  her  without  a  battle. 

Mr.  Cornish,  in  an  admirable  volume  concern- 
ing animals,  compares  them  with  children.  He 
says:  "No  one  can  have  failed  to  notice  how  par- 

[330] 


fifteen]  happy   animals 


ticular  children  are  about  their  beds  —  how  iiuicli 
they  object  to  having  them  altered;  how  they  insist 
on  their  being  made  in  their  own  way,  and  carry 
their  newest  and  most  valued  possessions  up  to  bed 
with  them,  and  poke  them  away  under  blankets  and 
pillows.  Animals  do  exactly  the  same.  And  a 
pet  dog,  who  is  on  the  friendliest  terms  with  mas- 
ter and  servant,  often  makes  the  most  ridiculous 
fuss  if  any  one  moves  the  box  in  which  he  sleeps. 
Dogs  nearly  always  have  a  hoard  hidden  away 
in  their  bed,  or  near  it.  Cats  choose  the  cleanest 
and  freshest  places  for  their  beds.  An  Angora  re- 
fused to  sleep  anywhere  except  upon  a  lady's  liat  — 
if  it  could  find  one.  The  cat  is  very  much  affected 
by  odors  that  are  not  perceptible  to  us.  They  dis- 
like contact  with  certain  people  as  much  as  they 
like  to  be  near  others.  A  little  watchfulness  will 
discover  these  attractions  and  repulsions  among  all 
animals.  To  humor  costs  us  little,  as  a  rule,  but 
to  refuse  very  much  depresses  the  comfort  of  the 
animal." 

This  is  especially  true  of  dogs.  In  Kansas  City 
I  heard  of  a  black-and-tan  who  followed  his  mis- 
tress to  the  grave,  and  remained  there,  with  casual 
visits  for  food,  until  he  died.     This  dog  came  when 

[331] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


called,  looked  up  into  your  face  with  intelligent  in- 
quiry, and  immediately  lapsed  into  a  picture  of  sor- 
row and  wretchedness,  creeping  back  to  his  rest- 
ing place  by  the  grave.  In  my  own  family  one  of 
my  large  cats  formed  a  strong  attachment  for  a 
young  man  who  spent  a  few  months  at  my  house. 
After  his  departure  the  cat  sought  him,  restlessly, 
all  over  the  place.  Finally,  discovering  one  of  his 
cast-off  garments,  she  made  a  bed  of  it,  and  seemed 
somewhat  comforted. 

Not  many  months  ago  I  was  driving  along  a  val- 
ley road,  when  I  met  a  boy  astride  a  Holstein  bull, 
which  he  was  riding  to  a  neighboring  brook.  This 
animal  seemed  to  have  lost  his  natural  propensi- 
ties, and  was  entirely  devoted  to  the  will  of  his  mas- 
ter. A  story  comes  to  me  from  a  Massachusetts 
paper  of  a  boy  who  has  a  power  over  nearly  every 
animal  that  he  approaches.  Every  stray  dog  or  cat 
in  the  neighborhood  knows  him  and  loves  his  com- 
pany. A  vicious  horse,  which  the  stable  men  can- 
not handle,  will  stand  like  a  lamb  while  he  har- 
nesses and  unharnesses  him.  The  doves  fly  all 
around  him,  and  in  the  woods  the  wild  birds  appar- 
ently regard  him  as  a  friend  and  ally. 

Jane  Layng  tells  us  of  a  fine  lad,  in  Southern 

[332] 


fifteen]  happy   animals 


Ohio,  who  had  this  sense  of  kinship  for  everything 
about  him.  "  He  had  only  to  throw  himself  down 
upon  the  lawn  in  front  of  his  home,  and  the  little 
creatures  of  the  air  and  the  shy  squirrels  would  for- 
get their  timidity  and  come  near  to  him.  Little 
birds  would  gradually  close  in  upon  him,  until  they 
stood  on  his  hands.  He  had  a  caressing  tone 
which  proved  irresistible  to  them,  and  if  they  were 
speeding  after  a  bug  in  another  direction,  they 
would  turn  at  his  call  and  go  to  him."  He  had  a 
pet  hen  which  was  entirely  given  up  to  this  senti- 
ment of  affection.  He  would  say,  "Come  here, 
Topsy, "  and  the  fluffy  hen  would  leave  her  com- 
panions and  go  to  him.  "  Now  sing  for  us,  Topsy !" 
he  would  say,  and  the  foolish-looking  creature 
would  stand,  and  make  her  unmusical  laying  song, 
till  he  told  her  to  stop.  "  Come  into  the  house  with 
me,  Topsy!  and  sing  to  my  friends  in  there." 
Thereupon  she  allowed  herself  to  be  set  upon  a 
stool,  where  she  sang  her  guttural  song  to  the  de- 
light of  the  household.  The  same  authority  tells 
us  that  she  knew  another  lad,  in  California,  with 
much  the  same  power.  One  day  his  mother  saw, 
with  consternation,  fourteen  strange  cats  at  his 
heels  who  had  never  before  seen  him,  but  were 

[333] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


thus  drawn  by  his  call,  to  follow  where  he  led.  Is 
there  not,  after  all,  some  truth  in  the  Pied  Piper  of 
Hamelin  ? 

Certain  I  am  that  the  exercise  of  manly  sym- 
pathy throughout  the  whole  homestead  will  work 
a  marvelous  change  in  animals,  birds,  and  even  in 
insects.  I  shall  never  forget  how  my  father  carried 
a  swarm  of  bees  to  a  neighbor's,  living  one-eighth 
of  a  mile  from  his  home.  He  cut  the  limb,  on 
which  the  bees  were  hanging,  and  started  up  the 
street,  the  bees  crawling  all  over  his  hand  until  they 
reached  his  shoulder,  where  a  large  part  of  them 
rested.  He  was  entirely  unprotected  against  them, 
except,  with  his  common  clothing.  Reaching  the 
house  of  the  friend  who  had  purchased  the  bees, 
they  were  astounded  at  his  appearance,  and  ex- 
claimed in  terror.  My  father  simply  laughed  a 
quiet  laugh,  and  brushed  the  bees  with  a  gentle 
touch  into  a  hive. 

Prof.  Mason  S.  Stone,  for  some  time  Superin- 
tendent of  Education  in  Vermont,  says  that,  "Next 
to  the  discipline  that  comes  from  hand  work,  the 
best  discipline  that  comes  to  a  boy  is  the  reflex 
training  that  comes  to  himself  from  training  ani- 
mals.    That  which  brings  out  the  confidence  of 

[334] 


fifteen]  happy   animals 


self-control,  of  self-mastery,  comes  through  train- 
ing something  else.  Every  boy  on  a  farm  ought 
each  year  to  have  a  dog  or  a  colt  to  train,  or  a  pair 
of  steers  to  break.  One  day  last  summer  my  at- 
tention was  attracted  to  a  boy  and  a  pair  of  steers 
in  a  city  street.  They  were  Holsteins,  with  great 
patches  of  white  on  shoulder  and  flank,  beauti- 
ful with  their  even-turned  horns,  straight  backs, 
heads  shapely,  legs  shapely,  and  eyes  as  gentle  as 
doves.  It  was  necessary  for  him  to  exercise  self- 
control.  He  could  not  have  broken  those  steers  to 
go  with  him  through  a  crowded  city  street  unless 
he  had  also  broken  himself.  He  was  cleanly 
dressed,  had  guileless  eyes,  a  wholesome  face,  and 
was  a  manly  match  for  his  own  steers." 

At  Alton,  111.,  resided,  until  recently,  a  man 
named  James  Chessen,  who  trained  all  the  ani- 
mals on  his  farm  until  they  became  almost  human 
in  their  behavior.  He  talked  to  them  as  he  would 
to  human  beings,  and  they  seemed  to  have  a  full 
understanding  of  his  conversation.  Horses  would 
follow  him  like  dogs,  and  become  apparently  as- 
similated to  his  opinions  on  matters  quite  foreign 
to  horse  life.  He  owned  one  of  the  celebrated 
Wilkes  stock  of  race  horses,  that  seemed  to  posi- 

[335] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


tively  converse  with  his  master.  One  dog  was 
trained  to  run  between  the  horses'  hind  legs,  to 
prevent  interference.  In  this  way  everything  about 
the  farm  was  cooperative  in  its  intelligence. 

Can  we  ever  reach  the  ideal  life  of  peace  on 
earth,  when  the  lion  and  the  lamb  will  lie  down  to- 
gether ?  I  believe  this  depends,  not  upon  the  ani- 
mals so  much,  as  upon  the  one  who  claims  to  be 
their  master.  Pictures  that  point  in  that  direc- 
tion seem  to  me  so  beautiful  that  I  am  inclined  to 
quote  from  the  New  York  Sun  its  story  of  a  gypsy, 
living  at  Northwood,  N.  Y. :  "  Breek,  that  being  his 
name,  found  no  difficulty  in  surrounding  himself 
with  bluejays,  mink,  and  rabbits,  who  came  freely 
to  his  door  to  be  fed  and  to  listen  to  his  voice." 
It  used  to  be  said  of  Thoreau  that  foxes  would  go 
to  him  with  confidence.  They  certainly  would  flee 
from  hunters,  and  betake  themselves  to  this  North- 
wood  hermit.  "  It  is  believed  that  Breek's  eyes 
have  something  to  do  with  his  power  over  animals. 
They  are  dark,  full  of  luster,  and  direct  in  their  gaze. 
A  dog,  angry  at  a  child  for  having  stepped  on  its 
tail,  on  the  porch  of  a  store,  started  to  snap  at  it. 
Breek  said  something  quickly,  and  the  dog,  at  a 
single  glance,  slunk  away  promptly." 

[336] 


FIFTEEN]  HAPPY    ANIMALS 


One  of  the  poets  tells  us  our  reign  should  be 
extended  not  only  over  the  earth,  but  over  the  skies : 

^'  Not  even  the  birds  should  forgotten  be, 

At  Christmas  time  ''^little  Love  says  he  — 

"  So  I  will  deck  them  a  Christmas  tree." 

And  the  birds  came  flocking  around  to  see. 

Over  the  slippery,  tipstanding  rock. 

And  the  frozen  sncnc  in  cold,  icy  blocks  — 

On  each  berryless  bough  that  sadly  mocks 

Their  hungry  soids,  birds  appeared,  in  flocks. 

Love  stood  on  the  tips  of  his  small,  bare  toes, 

Hanging  strings  of  red  hips  and  haws  in  rows  — 

For  the  little  birds  love  such  gifts  he  knows. 

And  over  the  white,  surrounding  snows. 

Are  prints  of  tiny,  eager  feet  — 

Of  the  birds  who  all  come,  in  hopes  to  eat. 

With  bursts  of  song,  little  Love  they  greet. 

Says  he,  "Merry  Christmas  ";  they  say,  "Sweet." 

Making  animals  thoroughly  happy  not  only  de- 
velops a  sort  of  affection  for  ourselves,  but  a  marked 
courtesy  for  each  other.  Our  Dumb  Animals  tells 
a  story  of  what  it  calls  "A  Gentlemanly  Dog." 
While  on  a  stage  trip  through  Kentucky,  the  writer 
of  the  story  saw  a  small  kitten  just  ahead  in  the 
roadway.  It  was  too  young  to  know  its  danger, 
when  suddenly  a  large  dog,  which  was  with  a  gang 

[337] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


of  workmen,  leaped  into  the  middle  of  the  road  by 
the  kitten.  He  was  about  to  seize  it  with  his  teeth, 
which  he  instantly  realized  would  possibly  hurt  it; 
instead,  he  placed  himself  behind  the  kitten,  and 
with  his  nose  boosted  it  out  of  danger.  The  New 
York  Tribune  tells  of  a  St.  Bernard  dog,  belonging 
to  a  farmer  near  Boston.  *'A  widow  lady  lives 
near-by,  and  Jack  has  constituted  himself  her  pro- 
tector. If  a  tramp  appears  on  the  street,  he  im- 
mediately trots  to  this  neighbor's  house  and  stays 
on  guard  until  he  is  sure  of  her  safety.  He  is  gal- 
lant enough,  when  she  visits  his  master's  house,  of 
an  evening,  to  wait  upon  her  home  to  the  door  of  her 
house."  The  *S^.  Louis  Republic  tells  of  a  couple 
of  horses,  each  one  attached  to  a  buggy,  in  front  of 
the  Merchants'  Exchange.  They  were  hitched  sev- 
eral feet  apart,  but  the  straps  allowed  them  to  get 
their  heads  together.  One  of  them  had  been  given 
a  feed  of  oats,  in  a  bag,  and  was  contentedly 
munching  them.  The  other  horse  was  evidently 
hungry,  and  neighed  in  an  insinuating  manner. 
His  neighbor  pricked  up  his  ears  politely,  and  re- 
plied in  horse  language  —  evidently  asking  the 
other  to  help  himself.  The  strap  was  not  long 
enough,  and  his  hungry  mouth  fell  short  of  the  bag. 

[338] 


FIFTEEN]  HAPPY   ANIMALS 

The  possessor  of  the  oats  thereupon  pushed  his 
bag  with  his  nose,  until  the  other  could  reach  it. 
Then,  after  a  friendly  nose-rub  of  salutation,  the 
two  horses  finished  the  oats  together. 

It  pays  to  treat  any  animal  with  kindness,  but 
especially  a  horse.  A  well-treated  and  properly 
fed  horse  will  last  thirty  years,  and  be  of  good  ser- 
vice most  of  the  time.  It  is  a  sad  comment  on  our 
country  economy  that  most  horses  are  killed  off 
within  fifteen  years.  I  have  in  mind  a  minister  of  the 
Gospel,  a  man  in  a  position  to  make  his  example 
tell,  who  drives  his  horse  up  hill  and  down  hill  on  a 
jump,  and  manages  to  ruin  a  noble  animal  within 
three  years.  Prof.  Mingo  says,  "It  is  foolish, 
brutal,  and  inhuman  to  think  that  you  can  whip  an 
idea  into  a  horse;  it  cannot  be  done.  Colts  should 
be  educated,  not  broken."  There  is  a  big  volume 
in  this.  I  have  seen  enough  of  both  of  these  under- 
takings to  know  that  he  is  correct.  If  you  will  be 
gentle  and  rational  with  a  horse,  he  will  learn  rapidly 
to  respond  with  reason.  A  young  horse  should 
never  know  that  a  whip  exists.  Educate  him  to  do 
his  best ,  and  then  help  him  while  he  is  trying  to  do 
it.  Help  with  words,  and  with  the  lines.  Pound- 
ing never  did  a  bit  of  good.     A  balky  horse  is  sim- 

[339] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chaptek 


ply  a  horse  that  has  been  so  badly  educated  that 
he  gives  it  up;  you  can  make  anything  balk  — 
children  as  well  as  animals.  You  cannot  cure  it 
except  by  common  sense  and  gentleness.  Rarey 
says,  "Horses  never  balk  until  forced  into  it  by 
bad  management.  Kindness  cures  all  trouble 
with  horses."  H.  C.  Merwin  says,  "A  kind  word 
for  a  horse  is  as  good  as  a  feed  of  oats.  The  horse 
is  far  more  intelligent  than  many  suppose.  Talk- 
ing to  him,  caressing  him,  praising  him  ^  with 
little  gifts  of  sugar,  apples,  and  candy,  render  him 
safer  and  more  obedient."  "We  ought  to  have 
a  school,  or  a  department  of  the  public  school,  to 
teach  the  art  of  driving.  Jerking  bits  in  an 
animal's  mouth,  yelling,  and  slashing  a  weary 
team,  mark  an  incompetent  driver."  The  best 
drivers  are  quiet,  patient,  and  kind.  They  know 
that  when  they  handle  the  reins  it  is  mainly  to 
assist  the  horse  with  slight  touches  and  sugges- 
tions. 

Not  having  a  tail  to  wag,  and  too  large  to  be 
played  with,  cat-fashion,  the  horse's  range  of  emo- 
tional expression  is  somewhat  limited,  yet  he  has 
a  capacity  in  his  voice  that  is  quite  beyond  the  range 
of  nearly  all  other  animals.     He  has  learned  to 

[340] 


fifteen]  happy    animals 


whinny  in  such  a  way  as  to  express  his  desires,  his 
tastes,  his  affection,  and  his  hatred.  "  It  is  an  easy 
matter  for  an  observant  owner  to  learn  whether  his 
hired  attendant  treats  his  horse  rightly ;  he  has  only 
to  watch  the  creature's  demeanor  toward  the 
groom."  Some  horses  will  evince  decided  pleas- 
ure when  the  attendant  comes  about  them;  others 
will  only  tell  their  story  by  being  quiet  and  docile. 
*'  One  animal  that  I  owned,  while  a  model  of  gentle- 
ness when  well  treated,  would  kick  and  bite  the 
man  who  used  her  roughly."  The  same  writer  tells 
us,  "  Leaving  a  favorite  pony  for  a  year,  to  the  care 
of  other  persons,  she  grew  gaunt,  and  constantly 
ran  down  in  spirits  as  well  as  flesh;  but  when  I  re- 
turned she  exhibited  the  highest  degree  of  pleasure, 
and  at  once  began  to  fatten."  It  is  said  of  Gold- 
smith Maid  that  she  cared  only  for  Budd  Doble; 
and  when  retired  from  the  track,  her  attendants 
could  approach  her  only  with  the  utmost  care. 
When  Doble  visited  her,  he  was  warned  to  beware 
of  approaching  very  near;  but,  to  the  surprise  of  all, 
on  hearing  his  voice,  the  glorious  mare  trotted 
across  the  field,  and  showed  every  manifestation 
of  delight.  She  marshaled  up  her  baby  for  his  in- 
spection, permitted  him  to  handle  it,  and  when  he 

[341] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

left  she  stood  at  the  bars,  gazing  after  him  until  he 
was  out  of  sight. 

It  is  from  the  economic  standpoint  that  I  like  to 
approach  this  question.  It  does  not  pay  to  make 
anything  unhappy;  it  pays  to  make  everything 
about  us  as  comfortable  as  possible.  I  have  no 
liking  for  swine,  yet  in  a  small  country  homestead 
they  can  often  be  kept  as  profitably  as  hens.  The 
object  is  to  have  some  way  of  disposing  of  the  house 
waste  and  garden  surplus.  Some  of  this  can  go  to 
the  cow ,  and  often  a  horse  likes  nothing  better  than 
a  pail  of  nicely  prepared  stuff  from  the  kitchen.  A 
laborer's  family,  without  a  horse,  will  probably 
keep  a  pig  —  and  wisely.  As  generally  treated, 
these  are  vile  companions,  housed  in  filth.  Allowed 
the  run  of  the  orchard,  they  are  far  from  offen- 
sive, and  are  at  the  same  time  valuable  in  the  way  of 
destroying  grubs  in  the  soil  and  in  wormy  apples. 
Such  pigs  make  healthy  meat,  while  those  bred  in 
filth  do  not.  Prof.  Shaler,  of  Harvard  University, 
says,  "It  is  commonly  supposed  that  our  pigs  are 
among  the  least  intelligent  of  the  creatures  which 
man  has  turned  to  his  use.  This  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  condition  in  which  these  animals  are  kept 
insures  their  degradation,  by  cutting  them  off  from 

[342] 


fifteen]  happy   animals 

all  the  natural  mental  training  which  wild  animals 
receive.  In  the  state  of  nature  pigs  are  among  the 
most  sagacious  of  all  creatures,  and  trainers  have 
found  them  more  apt  in  receiving  instruction  than 
any  other  of  our  animals.  Given  a  decent  chance, 
the  pig  is  more  cleanly  in  his  habits  than  the  cow. 
He  will  always  use  a  corner  of  his  pen  as  a  closet, 
and  never  soil  his  bedding.  There  is  no  feature  of 
our  civilization  more  horrible  than  the  herding  of 
hogs  in  close  quarters,  without  proper  exercise,  and 
feeding  them  on  garbage,  until  they  become  huge 
bulks  of  poisonous  meat,  to  be  sold  for  human 
food." 

Frances  E.  Willard  used  to  say  that  she  consid- 
ered teaching  kindness  to  animals  a  sacred  mission 
of  Christianity,  next  to  that  of  teaching  kindness 
to  human  beings.  We  have  altogether  too  much  of 
positive  cruelty  on  our  farms,  but  what  I  desire 
this  chapter  to  accomplish  is  to  teach  the  value  of 
kindness.  It  is  curious  to  note  in  how  many  ways 
an  affectionate  animal  will  manage  to  cooperate 
with  us  in  making  a  happy  home.  The  collie  dog 
is  not  satisfied  unless  he  can  be  doing  something 
in  the  way  of  helping  us  about  the  barn  and  with 
the  animals.     I   pity  a  collie  that  has  never  had  a 

[343] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


chance  to  express  his  helping  instinct.  His  home 
may  be  very  delightful,  but  if  he  has  never  been 
able  to  show  what  is  in  him,  he  will  not  be  com- 
pletely happy.  I  do  not  wonder  that  occasionally 
such  dogs  slip  into  bad  company  and  bad  ways. 

If  we  will  take  the  trouble  to  get  rid  of  bad  breeds 
of  cats,  and  cultivate  only  the  best  results  of  ani- 
mal evolution,  I  think  we  shall  find  that  we  have 
something  better  than  a  mere  mouser.  A  friend 
of  mine  tells  me  of  his  cat,  that  enjoys  nothing 
better  than  fishing,  often  landing  a  perch  or  pick- 
erel or  bass  weighing  three  or  four  pounds.  This 
cat  has  learned  to  associate  his  fishing  propensi- 
ties with  the  family  larder,  for  he  never  attempts  to 
eat  the  fish  that  he  catches,  but  carries  it  home  and 
lays  it  at  his  mistress's  feet.  He  generally  hunts 
alone,  but  sometimes  starts  out  with  the  family  dog, 
and  they  will  occasionally  return  with  about  an 
equal  share  of  game  —  not  unfrequently  par- 
tridges. I  had  myself  a  beautiful  maltese,  who 
would  ride  on  my  shoulder  to  a  pond  where  frogs 
abounded,  and  would  leap  from  my  shoulder  and 
catch  a  victim  much  more  quickly  than  I  could  get 
it  in  any  other  way.  A  reliable  story  reaches  me 
of  a  cat  at  Stockton,  California,  whose  mistress  has 

[344] 


fifteen]  happy   animals 

a  fine  almond  grove.  In  summer,  when  the  nuts 
begin  to  ripen  and  fall  to  the  ground,  the  cat  and  its 
mistress  work  side  by  side,  every  fine  morning, 
gathering  the  nuts.  "Richelieu  darts  back  and 
forth,  busily  picking  up  the  almonds,  one  at  a 
time,  with  his  teeth,  and  dropping  them  into  the 
basket.  This  he  continues  to  do  until  he  has 
made  a  much  more  sure  cleaning  of  the  ground 
than  his  mistress  could  do.  When  she  feels  a 
gentle  tug  at  her  dress,  and  a  loud  purring  as  he 
rubs  against  her  skirt,  she  understands  that  the 
nuts  are  all  in  the  basket."  This  same  cat  is  re- 
ported to  be  quite  as  expert  at  a  small  churn  as  a 
Newfoundland  dog.  What  is  more  curious  is, 
that  he  knows  just  when  the  butter  has  come  and 
should  be  taken  from  the  churn.  I  think  the  secret 
is  very  much  as  it  is  with  children ;  train  an  animal 
to  find  its  fun  in  work,  and  work  becomes  its 
passion. 

We  need  to  comprehend  the  fact  that  we  are 
not  so  far  removed  from  other  living  creatures. 
There  is  a  possible  communication  between  us 
much  more  wide  and  much  more  deep  than  we  are 
fond  of  confessing.  We  must  not  wait  for  animals 
to  learn  our  language,  but  must  have  the  courtesy 

[345] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


to  undertake  to  comprehend  their  methods  of  ex- 
pression. An  acute  observer  tells  us  that  she 
watched  her  cat  feeding  two  kittens.  Each  kitten 
could  understand  the  call  of  its  mother,  when  she 
brought  a  mouse,  and  never  responded  when  the 
other  one  was  summoned.  Youatt  asserted  that  two 
hounds  which  he  possessed  understood  French; 
it  is  more  likely  that  he  thoroughly  understood  dog 
language.  Prof.  Evans  thinks  that  an  animal 
language  could  be  constructed,  by  using  which  we 
could  communicate  with  quite  a  range  of  the  higher 
mammals. 

Animal  language  is,  at  its  base,  precisely  the 
same  as  our  own;  it  is  only  in  its  evolution  that  it 
has  differentiated  into  unlike  channels.  Bayard 
Taylor  tells  us  that  the  Hindoos  and  Arabs  always 
talk  to  their  elephants  and  camels  as  if  they  were 
human.  Taylor  himself  found  that,  by  talking  to 
his  dromedary,  the  animal  after  a  few  months  cer- 
tainly did  understand  much  that  he  said.  Going 
to  Barnum's  Museum,  Taylor  saw  the  hippopot- 
amus looking  very  dejected;  when  he  spoke  to  him 
in  Arabic,  saying,  "I  know  you;  come  here  to  me," 
the  huge  animal  at  once  turned  his  head;  and  when 
the  words  were  repeated,  it  came  up  to  Taylor  and 

[346] 


ifteen]  happy    animals 


pressed  its  head  against  the  bars  while  its  muzzle 
was  stroked.  Taylor  thought  that  among  caged 
lions  he  had  also  found  some  that  recognized 
Arabic.  Darwin  says,  "Man  uses,  in  common 
with  the  lower  animals,  inarticulate  cries  to  express 
his  meaning,  aided  by  gestures  and  movements 
of  the  muscles  of  the  face.  These  gestures  and 
movements  are  more  expressive  than  any  words. 
They  flow  out  in  the  music  of  the  birds,  and  into 
the  articulation  of  man." 

No  vision  of  the  future  will  be  reasonably  com- 
plete that  does  not  anticipate  a  greatly  increased 
power  of  understanding  our  animal  friends  and 
bird  friends,  and  consequent  intercourse  between 
them  and  ourselves. 

Rev.  Jenkin  Lloyd  .lones  tells  me  that,  "Last 
Sunday  Tessie,  a  Scotch  collie  dog,  stood  on  a  pul- 
pit platform  and  was  the  attraction  at  the  St. 
James'  Methodist  Sunday-school.  She  told  the 
children  the  number  of  the  Apostles,  the  number  of 
verses  in  their  Sunday-school  lesson,  and  the  num- 
ber of  days  in  the  year.  She  added,  subtracted, 
and  divided;  and  she  told  the  children  the  name 
of  the  figure  on  the  blackboard,  which  was  written 
and  erased  during  her  absence.     Of  course  she  had 

[347] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


to  do  it  by  barking.  Tessie  is  no  humbug,  as  Mr. 
Classon,  her  intelligent  and  loving  companion,  is 
neither  a  fraud  nor  an  adventurer.  He  says  the 
only  explanation  is  that  of  telepathic  influence. 
When  the  brain  of  a  dog  becomes  so  sensitive  to 
its  human  companionship,  so  responsive,  that  it 
catches  the  movements  of  the  human  mind  and 
transforms  them  into  volitional  impulses  of  dog 
consciousness,  we  have  a  revelation  of  the  power  of 
education,  the  contagious  character  of  thought,  the 
rewards  of  companionship  and  of  social  psychol- 
ogy that  is  profoundly  suggestive." 

You  have,  plainly,  something  more  to  do  in  com- 
ing out  of  the  herded  city  life  than  simply  to  build 
a  home  and  enjoy  what  you  can  of  the  world  as  it 
is.  You  have  something  far  higher  to  do  —  that 
is,  to  make  the  world  better,  and  everything  in  it 
wiser  and  happier.  I  think  people  are  beginning 
to  understand  this,  so  far  as  improvement  of  fruits, 
vegetables,  and  flowers  is  concerned,  but  it  is  not 
so  clearly  understood  that  we  have  also  to  raise  up 
the  whole  animal  kingdom.  It  may  be  that  in  the 
highest  sense  the  end  of  creative  purpose  is  the  evo- 
lution of  man,  but  sure  it  is  that  we  cannot  go  up 
alone.     All  life  is  one  life,  and  you  must  come  out 

[  348  ] 


fifteen]  happy   animals 


here  to  sympathize  and  to  help.  This  chapter 
does  not  leave  out  the  economics  of  the  question, 
but  it  goes  one  step  farther,  and  undertakes  to  il- 
lustrate our  alliance  with  all  living  creatures  —  for 
their  sake,  as  well  as  our  own.  It  believes  in  co- 
operation to  establish  a  happy  world  as  firmly  as 
it  believes  in  cooperation  to  secure  better  crops. 
This  is  one  chief  opportunity  in  going  back  to  coun- 
try life  —  that  we  may  go  with  beneficence,  and  not 
with  selfishness.  Already,  coincident  with  the  ex- 
odus, there  has  been  a  great  increase  of  Audubon 
Societies.  We  are  at  last  able  to  stop  the  wearing 
of  birds  and  birds'  plumage  by  women  —  a  re- 
form impossible  so  long  as  the  city  gauged  our  re- 
lation to  life  and  living  things. 


[349] 


CHAPTER    SIXTEEN 
NOOKS   AND    CORNERS 


JNooKS  and  corners  may  be  so  multiplied  that  a 
home  in  the  country  shall  utilize  all  those  places 
that  ordinarily  are  given  to  weeds  and  thickets. 
These  should  be  distributed  all  over  the  property. 
The  evergreen  arbors  constitute  delightful  re- 
treats. A  turn  of  the  hedge  on  one  side  follows  your 
drive,  but  on  the  other  makes  a  quiet,  half- 
shaded  semicircle,  for  a  rustic  seat  or  possibly  a 
hammock.  Of  these  you  cannot  have  too  many. 
Your  whole  homestead  should  speak  the  word  play, 
as  well  as  the  word  work  —  rest  as  well  as  toil.  It 
will  not  hurt  you,  or  any  of  your  helpers,  to  sit  in 
the  shade  a  few  moments  during  what  we  call  the 
working  hours.  If  you  have  a  sneak,  who  cannot 
be  trusted  near  a  rustic  seat,  he  cannot  be  trusted 
anywhere.  Cure  him,  or  discharge  him.  Walk- 
ing with  a  neighbor,  I  said,  "  What  a  splendid  spot 
that  for  a  natural   arbor.     You   could   see  from 


NOOKS   AND   CORNERS 


there  over  the  whole  valley,  and  could  read  miles  of 
landscape."  "Pshaw!  "  he  said,  "I  have  no  time 
for  fooling.  I  have  to  get  up  and  get,  from  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning  until  seven  at  night;  I've  no 
time  to  look  at  pictures  and  read  landscapes."  He 
has  a  good  bank  account,  and  there  is  no  decent 
reason  why  he  should  be  in  the  shafts  all  day.  As 
it  is,  his  nook  is  a  thicket  of  thorns,  bordered  with 
sticktights.  I  carried  some  of  those  weed  seeds 
home  with  me,  on  my  clothes,  and  my  collie  carried 
more,  to  sow  in  decent  fields. 

There  are  two  classes  of  men  and  women  every- 
where; those  who  know  nothing  but  work,  and 
those  who  will  not  work.  The  former  are  as  far 
as  the  latter  from  creating  a  true  adjustment  of  life. 
One  cannot  start,  and  the  other  cannot  stop.  The 
home  in  both  cases  is  sure  to  be  deprived  of  natural 
growth.  Money  piled  up  does  not  assure  even 
comfort.  A  country  home  must  suggest  something 
far  beyond  mere  hand  toil;  unfortunately,  most 
country  homes  do  not.  There  must  be  consider- 
able play  for  the  imagination  to  work  out  ideals. 
This  will  probably  not  lower  the  bank  account  at 
all,  but  it  will  take  into  account  also  the  sand- 
bank, or  cliffs  and  glens  and  gorges,  will  listen  to 

[351] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapteh 


brooks  that  run  where  the  plow  cannot  run,  and 
teach  us  to  understand  thickets  that  only  need 
brains  to  transform  them  into  nooks  and  corners. 

One  of  my  friends  has  built  a  storm  arbor  of 
fossiliferous  rock.  It  stands  in  a  corner  of  his  or- 
chard, overlooking  a  magnificent  bit  of  scenery, 
while  it  constitutes  a  cosy  retreat  from  house  work 
and  field  work.  Not  far  away  is  a  sun-dial,  carved 
on  a  round  boulder.  And  so  you  will  find  that  his 
whole  orchard  is  a  quaint  and  nooky  place  where 
one  may  not  only  pick  apples,  but  may  saunter  and 
rest.  "Why  not.?"  he  says.  "Money  is  not  the 
only  thing  a  man  wants.  It's  about  the  meanest 
stuff  we  get.  It  smells  of  old  pockets;  I  don't  like 
to  handle  it,  and  it  sort  of  makes  me  feel  cheap  to 
measure  myself  by  a  roll  of  bills.  But,  you  see, 
here  you  can  feel  that  you  are  as  large  as  nature." 
Then  he  has  done  another  thing  which  people 
ought  to  do  more  often;  he  has  collected  all  the 
water  of  his  meadows  and  pastures,  and  run  the 
pipes  and  drains  to  a  hollow,  where  they  make  him 
a  pond  full  of  white  and  yellow  lilies;  and  farther 
down  the  swale  the  water  again  throws  a  fountain 
jet,  a  spray  that  flies  away  with  the  wind  and 
waters  a  lot  of  wild  asters,  cypripediums,  and  golden 

1352] 


sixteen]  nooks   and    CORNERS 

rod.  Around  the  pond  are  scattered  native  shrubs 
and  other  beautiful  wildings.  The  whole  thing  is 
characteristic  of  the  man  —  odd  and  not  exactly 
to  be  imitated,  but  very  suggestive  to  those  who 
are  conventionalized.  A  country  home  is  a  place 
where  each  one  may  work  out  himself  —  that  is, 
his  best  self,  the  best  things  that  he  can  think 
and  feel. 

One  of  the  most  sterling  men  that  I  have  ever 
known  was  Oren  Root,  a  close  friend  of  Asa  Gray, 
and  like  him  a  keen  sympathizer  with  nature. 
"Root's  Garden"  was  at  one  time  the  most  de- 
lightful and  well-known  spot  in  Central  New  York. 
It  was  a  glen  full  of  nooks  and  corners.  He 
owned  one  of  those  gorgeous  cuts,  made  ages  ago 
by  glaciers,  with  all  the  windings  and  long  slopes, 
and  high  precipitous  banks  down  to  the  beautiful 
brook;  and  these  were  given  a  chance  to  say  some- 
thing fine  to  you.  The  glen  was  not  spoiled  by 
sheared  evergreens,  by  shaved  lawns,  by  iron  dogs ; 
only  there  was  freedom,  and  rest,  and  harmony, 
and  unity  introduced.  You  could  sit  on  an  old 
mossy  log,  or  you  could  find  a  rustic  stone  seat 
hid  under  overhanging  hemlocks.  There  are  thou- 
sands of  opportunities  in  New  England  and  New 

[353] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


York,  and  in  the  Southern  States,  for  these  indi- 
viduaHties  to  express  themselves  through  nature. 

If  you  have  not  a  glen,  or  a  gorge,  or  wild  forest 
edge,  you  will  find  that  you  have  something,  or  can 
create  something,  that  will  be  characteristic  of  your- 
self, and  expressive  of  rest.  Nature  is  all  the  time 
trying  to  help  you.  In  New  England  the  rocks  give 
grottoes,  or  the  overhanging  grapevines  create  ar- 
bors. In  the  West  I  have  seen  along  the  roadsides 
gypsy  encampments  of  wild  thorn  —  apples  and 
wild  grapes.  Underneath  these  the  cows  would 
hide  to  enjoy  the  dense  shade.  One  such  thorn 
tree  alone  is  beautiful,  but  a  corner  of  your  pasture, 
arbored  over  in  this  way,  is  as  good  for  your 
animals  as  sweet  grass  and  fresh  water. 
v>  Nothing  is  more  important  about  a  country 
home  than  provision  for  sports  and  games.  This 
should  not  be  left  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  children 
to  provide,  but  tennis  and  croquet  grounds  and 
athletic  fields  should  constitute  a  provision  in  lay- 
ing out  your  property.  Lawn  tennis  is  easily  in- 
troduced, a  game  that  creates  litheness  of  body, 
with  an  easy  cooperation  of  mind  and  eye.  It  is 
a  peculiarly  instructive  game,  while  croquet  goes 
directly  to  teach  accuracy  of  judgment.     I    have 

[354  ] 


sixteen]  nooks   and    CORNERS 


seen  young  collegians  show  at  first  the  most  as- 
toundingly  untrained  perception  of  the  relation  of 
things,  and  of  spaces,  and  of  the  effect  of  a  blow, 
yet  after  a  while  develop  peculiar  skill  and  aptness 
of  judgment.  They  get  a  certain  practical  educa- 
tion from  play  which  they  are  not  getting  from 
mathematics,  or  from  psychology  and  physics. 

Dr.  Woods  Hutchinson  takes  the  position  that 
play  is  a  provision  of  nature,  intended  to  bring  out 
not  only  physical,  but  moral  and  intellectual 
strength.  "Exercise,"  he  says,  "is  literally  the 
mother  of  the  brain.  Every  play,  worth  the  name, 
develops  not  merely  strength,  endurance,  and 
sweetness,  but  also  alertness^  quickness  of  response, 
coolness,  balance,  wariness,  and  judgment  that  is 
both  sure  and  swift."  The  individuality  of  chil- 
dren must  be  taken  into  account.  Some  get  play 
by  working  in  their  garden  plots,  while  others  are 
prompted  by  instinct  to  some  sort  of  construction, 
and  still  others  to  caring  for  pets.  While  my  shop 
is  open  I  cannot  induce  one  of  my  boys  to  join  us 
at  croquet.  Some  children  are  naturally  marine 
biologists,  preferring  the  frog-pond  to  an  athletic 
field.  While  these  are  paddling  in  the  water,  others 
are  naively  devoted  to  trapezes  and  jumping  bars. 

[355] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


The  ball  players  must  always  be  counted  upon  as 
constituting  a  large  fraction  of  any  group  of  boys, 
while  many  of  the  girls  do  not  object  to  games 
of  prisoner's  base,  or  even  hockey  and  basketball. 
In  this  country  we  shall  always  find  a  percentage 
of  young  folks  who  have  not  lost  the  instinct  ex- 
pressed in  "Robinson  Crusoe"  and  "Swiss  Family 
Robinson."  Their  happiness  will  not  be  complete 
while  playing  with  the  crowd.  They  must  have 
something  in  the  way  of  retirement,  and  a  chance 
to  climb  trees  and  dig  caves,  where  their  imag- 
inations can  revel. 

Dr.  Hutchinson  tells  us  that  those  children  who 
are  not  allowed  to  enter  school  until  eight  or  ten 
years  of  age,  going  with  more  physical  vigor,  soon 
overtake  those  who  enter  school  earlier  by  two  or 
three  years.  Give  a  child  normal  surroundings,  and 
he  is  pretty  sure  to  learn  to  use  his  brain  wisely  — 
very  much  as  he  learns  to  use  his  legs  and  arms 
wisely.  If  this  idea  is  carried  out  as  it  ought  to  be, 
in  every  country  homestead,  the  school  and  the 
home  become  nearly  supplements  of  each  other. 
I  asked  an  old  man  why  he  kept  his  youth,  and  he 
answered,  "Because  I  like  all  I  do.  I  try  to  find 
the  spirit  of  it.     Bringing  my  boyhood  along  with 

[35G] 


sixteen]  nooks   and   CORNERS 


me,  it  is  hard  to  kill  me.  Still,  I  am  opposed  to 
stopping  with  mere  play.  As  I  see  it,  there  is  too 
much  mere  play  going.  The  girls  are  ashamed  of 
the  kitchen  laboratory,  and  the  boys  are  mortified 
by  soiled  hands.  I  hate  the  sight  of  a  tennis- 
rigged  lad  whose  father  is  over  there  in  the  field  at 
work  in  the  sunshine,  and  his  mother  bent  over  a 
washtub."  When  we  organize  a  new  home  we 
should  never  plan  to  separate  the  family.  All  the 
members  should  work  together,  all  should  play  to- 
gether, and  all  should  rest  together.  That  society 
is  a  rank  falsehood  which  divides  father  and  son  in 
the  functions  of  every-day  life  and  joy.  That  home 
is  a  humbug  that  gives  sport  over  to  the  young,  and 
toil  to  the  old,  or  does  not  make  rhythm  of  every 
day's  occupation.  Your  nooks,  your  corners,  and 
your  playgrounds  should  bring  together  mother  and 
daughter,  father  and  son,  re-creating  them  into  a 
daily  better  image  of  God.  In  this  way  associate 
all  the  functions  of  true  living  —  play  and  work, 
rest  and  recuperation,  creation  and  re-creation. 

This  seems  to  me  one  of  the  finest  things  about 
country  life  —  that  the  children  can  grow  up  more 
natural,  with  broader  sympathies,  and,  if  wisely 
directed,  a  higher  morale  of  character.     In  this 

[357] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


home  school  of  ours  it  is  not  a  crime  for  a  child  to 
whisper,  nor  is  it  a  sin  to  smile  during  eight  hours 
of  the  twenty-four.  Modern  psychology  teaches 
—  what  every  common-sense  father  knows  —  that 
activity  is  a  necessity  for  the  young  child,  physi- 
cally, mentally,  and  morally ;  that  the  three  lines  of 
growth  are  tied  up  together,  and  in  the  normal 
child  go  hand-in-hand,  reacting  upon  one  another; 
that  *'the  young  child  is  continually  reaching  out 
through  his  senses  to  lay  hold  upon  everything 
about  him,  to  test  it,  to  know  about  it,  to  see  what 
its  relations  to  himself  may  be,  to  see  if  he  can  use 
it  and  make  something  for  himself  out  of  it." 
The  influence  of  the  country  upon  our  schools, 
to  broaden  out  their  schedule  of  work,  must  be 
supplemented  by  a  broad  home  life.  We  are  not 
very  far  from  the  days  of  school-gardens,  when 
the  country  school  will  be  in  nothing  unlike  the 
country  home,  developing  the  child  along  the  same 
lines  of  thought  and  industry. 

But  I  am  taking  too  much  thought  of  the  chil- 
dren. The  country  must  reform  in  another  direc- 
tion, to  take  care  of  its  mothers.  We  have  a  class 
of  people  to  whom  the  house  is  practically  a  prison. 
Women   are  not   supposed   to   have   equal   rights 

[358] 


sixteen]  nooks   and   CORNERS 


with  men  out  of  doors.  This  is  not  a  natural  sub- 
division of  Hfe  and  labor.  Woman's  duty,  and 
health,  and  fitness  for  motherhood,  depend  upon 
fresh  air  and  out-of-door  exercise.  Charles  Kings- 
ley  once  said  to  me,  "Your  women,  sir,  seem  to  me 
the  weak  part  of  American  development.  They 
cannot  walk  as  English  women  walk,  nor  can  they 
ride,  except  tucked  up  in  a  carriage,  with  a  driver 
to  care  for  them.  Such  women  will  deteriorate, 
and  with  such  mothers  American  character  will 
degenerate.  I  like  the  energy  of  your  people,  but 
why  have  they  shut  up  their  wives  and  daughters  ? 
An  English  woman  makes  nothing  of  a  five-mile 
walk  before  breakfast,  and  can  easily  take  in  ten 
or  fifteen.  She  is  stout  in  limb  and  robust  in 
frame,  sound  in  digestion,  and  a  good  bearer  of 
healthy  children.  Your  women  are  blanched  and 
pretty,  but  they  are  also  delicate  —  and  there  seems 
to  be  a  national  pride  in  that  direction.  It  will  tell 
more  and  more  in  future  generations."  During 
the  conversation  .his  daughter  burst  into  the  room, 
full  of  enthusiasm  over  a  twelve-mile  walk  into  the 
country.  She  was  preparing  for  a  horseback  ride 
later  in  the  day.  The  tide  countryward  is  to  be 
welcomed,  because  sensible  women  will  learn  to  get 

[359] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


the  best  of  the  results.  There  is  really  no  more  rea- 
son why  a  woman  should  not  ride  a  reaper  than  why 
she  should  be  debarred  from  running  a  lawn-mower. 
Every  country  woman  should  know  how  to  harness 
a  horse,  to  drive  skilfully,  and  then  to  care  for  her 
pet  when  he  brings  her  home  to  the  stable. 

Fortunately,  there  is  a  collateral  drift  toward  an 
interchange  of  employments.  Men  are  taking  up 
house  work  quite  as  rapidly  as  women  are  going 
into  professions  and  into  business  occupations.  It 
is  not  only  the  woman's  right  to  engage  more  gen- 
erally in  out-door  work,  but  her  rights  include  a 
part  in  the  recreations  and  the  games.  A  woman's 
sewing  balcony  is  possible  with  many  country 
homes.  It  is  healthful,  restful,  and  stimulating. 
My  wife's  balcony  opens  from  the  chamber  by 
double  doors,  and  is  furnished  with  a  hammock  as 
well  as  table  and  chairs.  One  of  my  live  arbors  also 
is  the  private  room  of  the  mother  of  the  fold, 
where  she  can  do  her  private  writing  as  well  as 
reading,  and  where,  perhaps,  she  may  instruct  her 
children.  You  suggest  that  the  children  are  all  at 
school  ?  In  a  wisely-ordered  country  home  a  large 
share  of  right  education  must  be  supervised  by  the 
mother    and    father.      These    acres    of    ours    are 

[360] 


sixteen]  nooks   and   CORNERS 


packed  with  object  lessons  and  truths  that  make 
up  character. 

A  plenty  of  nooks  and  corners,  making  good  use 
of  nature's  quiet  places,  indicate  the  great  truth 
that  the  most  of  one's  living  processes  must  be  car- 
ried on  out  of  doors,  and  that  a  house,  at  the  best, 
is  only  a  place  of  retreat  —  possibly  a  confinement. 
A  healthy  person  longs  for  fresh  air  and  sunshine, 
and  companionship  with  all  the  things  that  whisper 
and  sing.  The  old  Saxon  word  for  dwelling  is 
stopping-place,  and  that  for  house  is  hiding-place. 
Neither  of  these  words  originally  implied  that  a 
house  was  intended  for  anything  more  than  a  shel- 
ter. We  make  too  much  of  indoors  altogether. 
We  have  got  into  habits  of  conforming  to  house 
regulations  which  entirely  dominate.  Health  is 
not  possible  in  the  shade  of  fashion.  We  have  too 
many  curtains  to  shut  out  the  sunlight,  and  our  fate 
is  tied  up  with  infinite  bric-a-brac.  House  dust  is 
the  worst  of  poisons.  Try  a  bit  of  it  in  a  spectro- 
scope, and  you  will  get  lines  that  will  astound  you. 
House  air,  with  a  hot-air  furnace,  is  charged  with 
carbon  dioxides.  The  heat  in  winter  is  irrational 
and  debilitating;  in  summer  our  only  hope  is  to  let 
in  as  much  as  possible  of  out  of  doors.     If  your  lot 

[361] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 

is  nine  acres,  we  ought  to  be  able  to  find  you  all 
over  those  acres.  It  should  all  of  it  be  your  resi- 
dence. The  gardens  should  suggest  your  idiosyn- 
crasies, and  the  hedges  and  the  hiding-places 
should  be  your  features. 

Dr.  Edward  Everett  used  to  say,  when  he  took  his 
hat,  "  I  am  going  in  for  a  walk."  When  he  stepped 
back  indoors,  he  called  it  going  out  of  his  house  — 
for  he  reckoned  his  real  house  to  be  his  garden, 
his  orchard,  and  the  whole  world  at  large.  Really 
the  most  foreign  place  to  our  living  processes  is  in- 
doors. President  Hall  has  it  that  "  health  is  whole- 
ness, or  holiness,  in  its  highest  aspect."  He  holds 
that  every  room  of  ours  should  have,  first  of  all,  the 
maximum  of  light  and  sunshine,  and  that  we  should 
live  the  larger  part  of  our  lives  entirely  apart  from 
the  house.  Get  out  of  bed  early  in  the  morning, 
and  bathe  in  the  rising  sun's  rays.  One  morning 
hour  is  worth  two  at  midday  and  four  at  night. 
The  air  is  fuller  of  ozone,  and  the  system  is  in  a 
better  condition  to  receive  and  absorb  it.  He  tells 
us  that  the  conditions  for  good  health  are  these: 
"Pure  air,  sunshine,  good  companionship,  proper 
nutrition,  regular  habits,  suitable  subjects  of 
thought,  and  good  tools." 

[  36i«  J 


SIXTEEN]  NOOKS   AND   CORNERS 


Living  arbors  are,  in  my  opinion,  of  great  im- 
portance on  a  country  place,  and  they  are  easily 
constructed.  They  can  be  grown  in  just  about  the 
time  we  are  getting  good-sized  trees,  from  stock 
that  we  first  transplanted.  They  should  at  first 
consist  of  a  circle  —  preferably  of  arbor-vitse  — 
say  twenty  feet  across.  Trim  the  young  trees  as 
they  grow,  so  that  the  outside  of  the  circle  shall  rise 
gradually  with  a  conical  outline,  while  the  innef 
limbs  are  allowed  by  degrees  to  reach  together  over- 
head. These  will,  in  due  time,  interlace  and  make 
a  solid  roof.  This  ought  to  be  well  accomplished 
inside  of  ten  years,  but  it  will  be  twenty  years  be- 
fore the  arbor  is  complete,  and  it  will  grow  in 
strength  for  fifty  or  seventy-five  years.  After  the 
trees  are  fifteen  feet  high,  and  the  limbs  well  inter- 
laced, no  further  trimming  is  necessary.  A  living 
arbor  of  this  kind  is  a  living  house,  open  to  the  pur- 
est air,  yet  cutting  off  the  heat  of  midday.  It  will 
furnish  a  delightful  retreat  for  those  who  need  to  be 
left  entirely  alone.  They  need  not  be,  however, 
entirely  unsocial.  Such  an  arbor  constitutes  a  cap- 
ital place  for  rustic  seats  —  the  Old  Hickory  chairs 
are  just  in  place,  five  or  six  of  them,  and  in  the 
center  an  Old  Hickory  table,  or  one  that  you  have 

[363] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


made  yourself.  A  home-made  table  is  one  of  the 
easiest  things  to  prepare.  Get  an  old,  rejected  mill- 
stone, and  set  it  on  boulders.  In  the  hole  through 
the  middle  fix  a  large  vase,  to  hold  flowers;  or,  if 
you  will,  saw  a  section  of  a  big  tree  that  is  three  feet 
in  diameter,  and  make  the  section  three  feet  high. 
Let  the  bark  cling  to  such  a  table,  and  lest  it  cleave 
off,  drive  in  a  few  nails.  1  am  using  sections  of 
smaller  trees  for  seats,  and  similar  sections  serve 
admirably  for  seats  elsewhere,  as,  for  instance,  about 
your  croquet  ground,  or  in  sheltered  nooks  behind 
the  edges.  I  have  three  living  arbors,  and  con- 
sider them  delightful  features  of  my  homestead  be- 
cause they  are  so  entirely  natural  looking,  like  large, 
solid  trees.  I  find  that  the  birds  approve  of  these 
dense  evergreen  growths  as  much  as  I  do,  and  they 
nest  overhead,  and  sing,  without  being  disturbed 
by  their  neighbors  in  the  hammocks  below. 

Concerning  arbors  of  wood  I  say  little;  and  about 
all  those  other  structures  put  up  by  carpenters,  the 
less  that  is  said  the  better.  They  are  out  of  place, 
and  out  of  taste,  unless  it  be  to  hold  up  vines.  1 
have  seen  rustic  work  carried  clear  out  of  natural 
proportions,  and  made  fantastic.  The  most  ar- 
tificial and  disagreeable  country  place  I  ever  saw 

[364] 


sixteen]  nooks   and    CORNERS 


was  made  up  of  arbors,  rockeries,  grottoes,  ever- 
greens sheared  into  hens,  fountains  where  spouting 
geese  vied  with  negroes  grinning  in  the  pools,  and 
stone  dogs  in  the  grass.  Such  things  are  abhorrent 
to  nature,  and  they  do  not  constitute  a  home.  I 
think  the  people  catch  the  spirit  of  this  sort  of  work 
from  some  of  our  public  parks.  If  a  trellis  of  wood 
or  wire  is  needed,  let  it  be  strong  and  simple,  and 
demonstrate  its  fitness  by  its  utility.  I  have  seen  a 
great  many  wooden  arbors  about  the  country,  as  I 
have  seen  many  observatories  on  the  tops  of  houses, 
but  I  rarely  ever  saw  anybody  inside  one  of  them. 
They  are  artificial  and  superfluous  as  a  rule  —  not 
always. 

There  are,  however,  some  people  who  cannot 
live  out  of  doors.  So  far  as  I  can  see,  they  have 
nothing  out  there  to  live  for,  or  to  live  with.  In- 
doors they  have  a  lot  of  furniture  that  they  sym- 
pathize with,  and  they  make  up  the  rest  with  other 
conventionalisms.  Half  our  country  houses  might 
as  well  be  in  Sahara,  so  far  as  trees,  flowers,  birds, 
brooks,  hedges,  nooks  and  common  sense  are  con- 
cerned. Birds  rarely  go  near  such  houses.  A  few 
trees  are  set  out  for  a  show  —  a  row  of  something 
on  exhibition;  birds  never  nest    in    such   things. 

[365] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chaffer 


Then  an  agent  comes  along,  and  sells  four  white, 
cut-leaved,  weeping  birches,  and  these  are  set  out 
in  another  exhibition  row;  but  birds  never  nest  in 
them.  Then  the  folks  bethink  themselves  of  a 
row  of  evergreens,  which  they  keep  trimmed  into 
solid  cones,  such  as  a  good  mechanic  might  turn 
out  of  wood  and  paint  green  and  set  in  rows  across 
the  lawn.  Finally,  two  weeping  willows  are  set  in 
front  of  the  house,  expressive  of  nature's  grief  over 
such  ludicrous  notions  of  the  beautiful.  The  only 
salvation  of  such  a  place  is  that,  by  and  by,  neglect 
will  kill  cut  four-fifths  of  the  trees,  and  the  rest, 
being  left  out  of  line,  make  a  tolerable  lawn.  Learn, 
first  of  all,  that  nature  abhors  conventionalism; 
never  repeats  herself;  does  not  inquire  what  folks 
will  say;  gets  in  love  with  beauty  and  truth,  and 
then  plants  her  nooks  and  corners  for  no  other 
reason  in  the  world  than  that  she  loves  the  beauti- 
ful and  the  true.  Those  who  have  not  been  born 
again  to  see  the  world  about  them,  who  really  have 
no  acquaintances  among  the  trees,  no  friends 
among  the  birds,  constitute  a  class  by  themselves. 
I  will  not  say  that  they  are  degenerate,  but  they 
certainly  are  incapacitated  for  comprehending 
Out  of  Doors. 

[366] 


sixteen]  nooks   and   CORNERS 


I  have  spoken  plainly,  but  none  too  strongly, 
about  the  average  house.  It  is  the  ugliest  thing  in 
a  country  landscape.  It  has  rarely  a  line  of  beauty 
or  of  peace,  or  a  suggestion  of  rest,  inside  or  out- 
side of  it.  It  is  just  a  barn  for  human  folk.  It  is 
not  quite  as  healthy  as  the  animal  barn,  and  not 
generally  as  pretty.  Your  house  should  be  a  part 
of  the  property  —  that  is,  of  all  the  acres  that  you 
occupy.  Your  residence  should  be  the  whole  of 
your  property.  This  sort  of  home  we  shall  have  by 
and  by.  What  I  mean  to  say  is  that  we  must  learn 
to  get  out  of  doors,  and  stay  out  most  of  the  time  — 
to  work  outside,  play  outside,  eat  outside,  sleep  out- 
side. Form  your  sympathies  with  nature;  talk  gar- 
den, think  flower  and  fruit;  study  bugs  and  butter- 
flies; then  lie  down  on  the  sweet  sod,  under  your 
blossoming  apple  trees,  and  let  your  soul  sing:  *'  Our 
Father,  Who  art  in  the  Heavens !  and  in  the  apple 
blossoms!  and  in  the  roses,  too!  Thy  name  be 
hallowed!" 


[367] 


CHAPTER    SEVENTEEN 

CONCLUSION 


Well,  here  we  are  in  the  country!  Our  house  is 
built,  our  garden  is  planted,  our  orchard  is  already 
bearing  —  Sweet  Boughs  and  Northern  Spys.  We 
are  milking  our  own  cow,  and  thinking  of  raising 
another  —  a  beautiful,  soft-eyed  Jersey  that  was 
born  last  April.  We  have  carried  out  a  lot  of  no- 
tions in  the  way  of  cesspools,  compost  piles,  and 
drainage.  There  is  a  driven  well,  60  feet  deep  in- 
to the  solid  rock,  and  it  cost  only  eighty-eight  dol- 
lars, pump  and  all.  The  fun  of  it  is  that  there  is 
always  something  to  do.  We  mean  to  make  each 
year  notable,  not  only  for  crops,  but  for  some  spe- 
cific advance.  We  are  trying  to  work  play  and  play 
work,  although  the  hot  sun  or  pounding  rain 
sometimes  upsets  us.  The  bugs  have  been  here, 
and  we  have  not  always  won  the  fight.  The  birds 
and  the  bees  have  been  counted  into  the  family, 
and  the  toads  as  well ;  we  are  all  cooperating. 


CONCLUSION 


The  amount  of  joy  to  be  gotten  out  of  a  few  acres, 
run  in  the  name  of  mutual  aid  and  good-will,  is 
amazing.  Birds  sing  in  concert,  and  the  cows  have 
ways  of  expressing  joyous  good-will.  Bossy  rubs 
her  head  against  your  arm,  and  asks  you  to  scratch 
her  neck.  The  fowls  jump  on  your  shoulders  and 
eat  from  your  hand.  Fear  is  banished.  The  strug- 
gle for  existence  passes  largely  into  a  generous 
cooperation  for  the  common  good.  Chirping 
birds  hop  about  your  door,  and  catbirds  perch 
near  your  balcony  to  talk  noble  things  in  bird  lan- 
guage. Guns  are  banished.  The  spirit  of  killing 
becomes  abhorrent.     Life  grows  sacred. 

The  catching  power  of  pure  horticulture  is  im- 
mense. One  well-designed  home  sets  the  fashion, 
until  the  town  becomes  notable  for  beauty.  Un- 
fortunately, one  gaudy  architectural  display  is 
liable  to  be  mistaken  for  a  true  home,  and  copied  as 
a  model,  until  a  whole  community  is  artificialized. 
This  book  has  expressed  no  sympathy  with  costly 
houses.  A  home,  in  any  of  its  evolutions,  should 
never  express  more  of  expense  than  of  character. 
The  thought  of  money  value  should  be  entirely  ab- 
sent when  you  observe  a  human  residence  as  when 
you   observe  a  well-dressed   man  or  woman.     A 

[369] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


complete  country  home  is  never  obtrusive,  but,  like 
the  trees  and  the  lawns  and  the  hedges,  is  a  part  of 
the  place. 

This  home  of  ours  is  associated  with  privileges 
that  even  the  city  could  not  indulge  fifty  years  ago. 
It  has  advantages  peculiar  to  the  country,  but  also 
those  that  have  been  peculiar  to  the  city.  Half  a 
century  ago  the  conditions  of  life  were  such  that 
pneumonia,  typhoid  fever,  and  a  whole  gamut  of 
similar  ills  were  looked  upon  as  inevitable  accesso- 
ries of  life  —  if  not  orderings  of  Providence.  As 
late  as  1850  machinery  was  just  beginning  to  lift 
the  farmer  from  his  knees  —  where  he  had  worked 
with  hook  to  reap  his  grain  —  to  ride  upon  har- 
vesters, and  do  in  a  single  day  the  work  of  twenty 
men.  He  was  old  at  forty,  and  worn  out  at  fifty; 
to-day  he  is  erect  and  stalwart  at  eighty.  A  strike 
in  the  coal  field  would  not  then  have  affected  him, 
for  he  knew  nothing  about  coal  as  fuel. 

In  our  gardens  and  orchards  we  are  forming  a 
collection  of  the  best  achievements  of  the  whole 
temperate  zone,  vegetables  and  fruits  that  mark  the 
progress  of  science  all  along  down  through  the  cen- 
turies. What  is  it  that  makes  the  farmer's  every- 
day meal  ?     It  is  coffee  from  Arabia,  sugar  from 

[370] 


seventeen]  conclusion 


Cuba,  flour  from  Dakota  —  in  fact,  the  whole 
world  is  contributing  to  his  table.  On  his  lawns 
we  find  alfalfa  from  Turkestan;  in  his  gardens 
are  melons  from  Syria  —  but  better  than  all  are 
the  achievements  of  cross-pollenization.  Science  is 
showing  us  the  value  also  of  the  most  despised 
weeds  and  neglected  products  of  field  and  forest. 
The  corn  stalk  and  cotton  seed  have  become  nearly 
as  important  as  corn  and  cotton  themselves.  A 
noted  chemist  says,  "I  believe  there  is  not  a  by- 
product, or  a  residuum,  or  a  weed  in  our  fields  that 
will  not  be  found  to  be  of  value  to  human  beings." 
The  Russian  thistle,  which  at  first  so  alarmed  our 
Western  farmers,  is  now  sown  on  their  ranches  as  a 
superior  food  for  cattle  and  horses.  Even  marsh 
mud  promises  to  become  an  excellent  fuel.  Among 
our  farmers  are  such  wizards  as  Burbank,  Wilder, 
and  Munson  —  creators  and  cooperators  with 
nature  in  producing  flowers  and  fruits  and  vege- 
tables far  superior  to  those  which  we  inherited. 

The  reaction  to  country  life  is  natural  and  neces- 
sary. There  is  little  danger  of  a  turn  of  the  tide. 
A  lawyer  and  his  wife  have  become  my  neighbors. 
She  is  the  refined  daughter  of  a  notable  minister, 
all  of  whose  youth  had  been  spent  in  the  city.     I 

[371] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


asked  her  if  she  would  be  willing  to  go  back  to  her 
former  method  of  life.  **  Not  on  any  account  what- 
ever! Why,  just  think  of  it!  Not  one  dollar  for 
rent !  We  own  our  house  —  built  it  ourselves  — 
put  our  own  notions  into  it.  We  are  no  longer  eat- 
ing and  sleeping  in  other  folks'  houses.  Then  we 
have  our  own  eggs,  chickens,  and  fruit.  Why, 
down  in  that  cellar  are  twenty-four  barrels  of  our 
own  apples  —  Northern  Spys,  Greenings,  Gilli- 
flowers,  Spitzenburgs,  and  we  never  paid  a  cent  for 
them.  And  there  are  splendid  fresh  vegetables  all 
summer  long  —  peas,  potatoes,  and  beans  and  cab- 
bages, and  bushels  of  them  for  winter.  Dear  me! 
the  idea  of  ever  again  going  around  the  corner  to 
buy  a  half-peck  of  peas!  Miserable,  half-dried 
things!  But  we  didn't  know  any  better  then;  we 
do  now.  Then  there  are  little  Joe  and  Ned !  It 
would  be  just  positive  cruelty  to  shut  them  up  in 
city  life  —  houses  and  streets !  But  here  they  go  it  all 
the  day  long,  playing,  helping,  romping,  happy 
and  healthy,  and  out  of  bad  influences.  See 
there;  just  look  in  there!"  I  saw  a  snug  little 
room,  dark  but  for  a  narrow  window.  "  Do  you 
shut  them  in  there  when  they  are  bad.^"  I  said. 
*'What  a  question!     No,  sir.     Just  look  again!" 

[372] 


seventeen]  conclusion 


Sure  enough ;  the  wall  on  one  side  held  shelves  liter- 
ally full  of  tumblers  of  jellies  and  jars  of  preserved 
fruits.  "All  my  own  putting  up,  out  of  our  own 
garden!  Do  you  hear  that?  Nobody  else's  stuff 
—  except  the  pineapple  and  orange."  The  op- 
posite shelves  were  filled  with  Hubbard  squashes 
and  golden  pumpkins.  At  one  end  hung  bunches  of 
herbs.  It  was  clear  that  my  friend  was  in  love  with 
the  country.  "Oh,  yes,"  she  said,  "the  snow  and 
cold  weather  can't  be  kept  out  of  the  country,  nor 
out  of  the  city,  either ;  but  a  country  house  can  be 
made  so  comfortable  that  we  rather  enjoy  a  storm. 
There  is  just  one  drawback,  that  of  cleaning  roads; 
but  that  is  managed  by  the  pathmaster  mostly." 

The  reaction  to  country  life  affects  Europe  nearly 
as  much  as  the  United  States.  Denmark  is  con- 
spicuous for  having  created  a  reverse  current  of 
population.  She  has  within  a  few  years  reclaimed 
two  thousand  square  miles  of  previously  waste 
land,  and  with  this  movement  she  is  increasing  her 
exports  with  great  rapidity.  Danish  farmers  and 
other  land-owners  have  formed  cooperative  soci- 
eties, in  order  the  more  perfectly  to  handle  produce 
and  control  foreign  markets.  The  country  folk 
have  four  hundred  banks  for  the  deposit  of  small 

[373] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


savings.  The  Danish  University  and  its  students 
have  instituted  free  lectures,  with  evening  lectures, 
all  over  the  country  —  besides  promoting  popular 
amusements,  distributing  cheap  literature,  and 
opening  oflfices  for  free  legal  advice.  Clubs  are 
formed  in  music,  gymnastics,  and  cycling,  and 
there  are  debates  conducted  for  the  advantage  of 
the  rural  population.  In  all  ways  country  life  has 
become  exceedingly  attractive.  Very  much  remains 
for  our  own  government  to  learn  from  Denmark, 
especially  in  the  way  of  establishing  Postal  Savings 
Banks  in  our  villages. 

By  going  to  the  country  we  are  not  only  helping 
ourselves,  but  are  aiding  the  solution  of  the  great 
social  problem,  how  to  make  man  out  of  the  mass, 
and  something  better  than  masses  out  of  men. 
Nearly  one  million  a  year  from  Europe's  herded 
population  comes  to  our  shores  for  citizenship.  All 
but  four  per  cent,  drop  into  tenements.  The  social 
salvation  of  America  rests  with  the  country.  There 
is  land  enough  for  a  population  of  five  hundred 
millions.  The  unimproved  lands  of  the  Northwest 
constitute  about  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  area.  Maine 
has  eighty-eight  per  cent,  of  her  land  still  unim- 
proved,   Pennsylvania,  fifty-five   per    cent.,    while 

[374] 


seventeen]  conclusion 


even  the  State  of  New  York  has  under  tillage  less 
than  one-half  of  its  acres. 

It  was  the  fashion  of  forty  years  ago  for  pro- 
gressive economists  to  discuss  a  reform  village, 
built  in  squares,  one  house  on  each  corner,  and  a 
community  boarding-hall  and  kitchen  in  the  center 
of  each  square.  Some  experiments  were  made 
along  such  lines,  but  they  fell  to  pieces  over  the 
table  question.  It  is  not  easy  for  four  families  to 
agree  on  a  menu  three  times  a  day,  and  on  the 
qualities  of  the  cooking.  As  a  rule,  every  woman 
must  be  mistress  of  her  own  kitchen. 

A  more  satisfactory  cooperation  lays  out  a  few 
acres  in  garden  form,  with  houses  occupying  advan- 
tageous points.  This  park  home  should  have  a 
single  tidy  barn,  where  the  few  families  interested 
may  have  a  cow,  a  horse,  and  hens,  owned  in  com- 
mon. In  charge  of  such  a  place,  a  man,  or  possi- 
bly a  family,  can  be  hired  by  the  commune.  In 
this  case  each  family  owns  and  controls  its  own 
house,  orchard,  and  garden,  while  the  drives  and 
the  park  and  the  driven  well  and  the  barn  are  kept 
by  common  funds.  By  such  a  system  the  cost  of 
hired  help  may  be  greatly  reduced,  and  the  servant- 
girl  question  almost,  if  not  entirely,  solved. 

[375] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


I  see  no  reason  why  adjacent  farms  shall  not 
build  their  houses  within  calling  distance  of  one 
another.  This  is  all  the  more  easy  now  that  ten  to 
twenty  acres  is  held  to  be  enough  for  good  tillage. 
What  can  be  done  with  two  farmhouses  can  be 
done  with  three  or  four  forming  a  group  of  houses 
near  adjacent  corners.  This  intimacy  would  re- 
quire good  neighbors,  but  it  would  tend  to  develop 
neighborliness.  It  would  cultivate  a  rivalry  in  the 
way  of  well-kept  lawns  and  orchards,  and  create  a 
comparison  of  methods  and  results.  A  letter,  de- 
scribing something  of  this  kind,  says,  "When  sud- 
den illness  occurs,  somebody  is  near  by  to  help.  Of 
course  we  can  quarrel  more  easily,  but  the  quarrel 
is  not  likely  to  be  as  lasting  as  if  we  lived  farther 
apart."  This  whole  question  of  cooperation  in 
country  life  is  still  an  unfinished  problem.  Co- 
operation in  the  way  of  building,  harvesting,  and 
domestic  industries  is  taking  a  new  and  broader 
sweep.  Cooperative  marketing  will  follow  co- 
operative production.  This  will  require  a  more 
accurate  system  of  grading  our  products,  and  will 
develop  a  higher  degree  of  economic  education. 
Individualism  cannot  be  satisfied  to  end  with  it- 
self.    Emerson  says,  "Your  millennium  is  in  your 

[376] 


SEiTINTEEN]  CONCLUSION 


furrows,  and  you  are  sowing  the  seed  which  to- 
morrow will  give  your  social  harvest." 

I  said  at  the  outset  that  this  book  was  not  for 
colonists,  yet  I  cannot  overlook  the  fact  that  the 
movement  countryward  is  taking  on  some  features 
that  look  toward  getting  out  of  the  city  in  a  lump. 
There  are  not  a  few  persons  who  lack  the  initiative 
and  can  only  move  in  platoons.  The  Salvation 
Army  deals  with  this  class  of  people,  and  does  it 
successfully.  Their  farm  colonies,  moving  whole 
families  together,  are  working  well.  The  National 
Government  is  discussing  the  question  of  assisting 
this  movement  by  adequate  appropriations. 

Mechanics  of  small  means,  and  clerks  with 
meager  salaries,  apprentices  whose  income  only 
permits  them  to  live  in  dreadful  boarding-houses  — 
these  will  do  well  to  club  together  and  buy  coun- 
try places  near  trolley  lines.  This  is  sometimes 
feasible  by  giving  to  a  married  man  the  manage- 
ment of  the  house  and  the  land.  Here  can  be  had 
wholesome  food,  fresh  air,  rational  exercise,  and 
delightful  lodgment.  I  imagine  that  we  shall  see 
a  great  increase  of  this  sort  of  club  life  in  the 
country. 

Cooperation  is  not  a  new  idea;  for  our  fathers 

[377] 


THE   COUNTRY    HOME  [chapter 


raised  their  house  frames,  husked  their  corn,  and 
reaped  their  harvests  by  united  effort,  while  the 
women  knitted  and  spun  and  wove  the  family  cloth- 
ing and  carpets.  The  state  was  called  the  Com- 
monwealth, and  the  town  meeting  still  remains 
as  a  recognition  of  our  necessary  common  weal 
—  and  our  possible  common  woe.  As  we  look 
ahead  we  shall  understand  that  individualism  must 
increase  its  efforts  for  united  work.  The  new 
country  life  will  teach  us  to  link  our  energies  as 
never  before.  The  middleman  will  become  of 
less  importance.  Postal  Savings  Banks  will  gather 
the  earnings  of  the  poorer  classes,  and  make  them 
small  capitalists.  By  going  into  the  country  we 
are  not  to  be  scattered  and  alienated,  but  to  be 
brought  into  an  alliance  that  is  impossible  in  the 
herded  city. 

By  these  steps  we  are  coming  into  an  era  of  co- 
operation in  country  schools  —  a  cooperation  that 
is  being  worked  out  by  events  as  much  as  by  logic. 
Small  district  schools  by  the  wayside  are  giving  way 
to  town  schools,  with  splendid  sanitation  and  bet- 
ter teachers  —  these  in  turn  becoming  centers  of 
moral  and  intellectual  life.  It  is  not  at  all  unlikely 
that  the  restoration  of  the  town  church  will  be  in 

[378] 


SEVENTEEN]  CONCLUSION 


connection  with  the  school  building.  The  time  is 
coming  when  all  these  town  schools  will  be  set  in 
the  middle  of  one  or  more  acres,  and  education  will 
be  half  a  day  with  books  indoors,  and  half  a  day 
with  things  out  of  doors.  The  ideal  school  ac- 
quires knowledge  in  the  morning,  and  applies  it  in 
the  afternoon.  In  this  way  children  leave  school 
with  a  taste  for  the  land  and  land  culture.  They 
will  not  conceive  the  end  of  education  to  be  memo- 
rizing the  contents  of  books.  The  garden  school  of 
the  future  will  abolish  the  prison  houses,  where 
children  are  shut  up  for  eight  or  nine  hours  each 
day,  during  their  most  ebullient  years,  forbidden 
to  stir  or  communicate. 

The  country  is  the  children's  natural  home.  The 
winds  rock  their  cradles,  and  in  these  days,  if  there 
be  stuff  at  all  in  the  boy,  he  can  get  his  living 
chance  —  in  the  country.  We  must  discard  those 
books  that  tell  the  stories  of  lads  who,  by  extra 
shrewdness,  escape  the  narrowness  and  pinched- 
ness  of  the  farm  to  become  merchants,  and  so  get 
away  from  growing  apples  and  wheat  to  measuring 
calico.  No  life  in  the  world  is  broader,  freer,  or 
fuller  than  life  on  the  land.  Farming  has  had  its 
bad  day,  but  that  is  over  with,  and  let  us  hear  no 

[379] 


THE    COUNTRY   HOME  [chafter 


more  about  it.  Children  take  naturally  to  country 
life,  and  not  to  street  life,  unless  driven  to  it. 

The  glory  of  country  life  is  that  every  leaf  and 
each  twig,  and  the  pebbles  in  the  brook,  are  all  ob- 
ject lessons.  United  States  Commissioner  of  Edu- 
cation W.  T.  Harris  says,  "  The  school  should  be 
only  a  supplement  of  the  home."  But  now  you 
find  that  your  whole  property  —  not  the  house 
only,  but  the  garden  and  the  orchard  and  the  corn 
field,  are  all  parts  of  an  educational  plant;  and  your 
children  are  born  into  it,  to  find  out  what  they  can 
of  its  wonders.  Some  years  ago  a  French  author 
wrote  a  book  called  "The  Population  of  a  Pear 
Tree."  It  is  wonderful  how  many  tribes  and  na- 
tions occupy  your  acres.  A  study  of  these  turns 
labor  into  pleasure,  and  makes  country  life  noth- 
ing less  than  going  to  a  great  university.  Home 
studies  are  all  in  English,  and  it  needs  no  Oxford 
gown  for  graduation  day.  In  this  school  no  one 
takes  a  degree  until  he  dies ;  for  this  sort  of  educa- 
tion never  ends. 

Professor  Search,  in  his  "Ideal  School,"  says, 
"Every  child  is  a  born  naturalist."  His  eyes  are, 
by  nature,  open  to  the  glories  of  the  stars,  the  beau- 
ty of  the  flowers,  and  the  mystery  of  life.     William 

[380] 


''.v^ 


^.^  i.  ^JsL'-.  Jl^ 


SEVENTEEN]  CONCLUSION 


J.  Long  says,  "The  only  book  to  read  out  of  is  the 
book  of  nature  herself."  Nature,  after  all,  is  our 
great  educator;  books  are  only  translations  of  what 
is  written  on  the  leaves  of  the  big  book. 

Professor  Whitman,  so  well  known  as  Director 
of  the  Marine  Biological  School,  at  Woods  HoU, 
says  that  the  laboratory  has  gone  as  far  as  it  can 
in  its  research  into  the  problems  of  life;  that  we 
must  now  reach  out  farther  and  create  *'  biological 
farms."  His  proposed  farm  would  consist  of  fields 
and  woods  and  ponds  and  gardens  and  orchards 
and  brooks  —  where  he  could  investigate  what 
nature  has  done  and  is  doing  at  the  present  mo- 
ment. There  is  no  reason  why  every  country 
home  in  the  land  should  not  be  a  biological  farm 
—  a  school  for  the  study  of  life.  A  country  home 
that  does  not  widen  the  horizon  of  thought  and 
power  is  a  failure.  Asa  Gray  used  to  speak  of  the 
trees  that  filled  the  Oriskany  valley,  before  his 
residence  in  boyhood,  as  his  "professors."  The 
college  that  he  attended  was  the  great  amphi- 
theater, circled  with  orchard-covered  hills,  and 
everywhere  man  and  nature  in  harmony. 

The  best  teacher  in  the  country  is  the  one  who 
studies  with  the  child;  not  one  who  imparts  from  a 

[381] 


THE   COUNTRY   HOME  [chapter 


cold-storage  of  facts.  In  this  way  a  parent  is  often 
the  very  best  possible  teacher  —  because  compan- 
ion. I  would  not  have  lost  the  lessons  learned 
from  my  father,  as  together  we  went  about  the 
fields,  for  all  that  I  gathered  at  academies  and  col- 
leges. Froebel  says,  "Let  parents  become  chil- 
dren with  children,  and  all  together  go  to  school  to 
Mother  Nature."  Give  every  boy  and  girl  such 
books  as  "Hodge's  Nature  Study  and  Life,"  and 
"Comstock's  Insect  Life,"  and  keep  them  well 
supplied  with  the  Bulletins  from  experiment 
stations.  Be  sure  that  your  laboratory  is  furnished 
with  a  good  microscope  and  other  appliances 
for  accurate  investigation.  With  your  boys  and 
girls  not  only  grow  crops,  but  test,  examine,  inves- 
tigate, and  compare.  Above  all,  let  every  child  be 
educated  to  understand  that  there  is  no  glory  supe- 
rior to  that  of  creating  a  better  cereal  or  fruit,  and 
in  general  terms  carrying  creation  forward  toward 
perfection.  This  glorifies  a  country  home  as  noth- 
ing else  can  —  to  make  it,  and  all  about  it,  face  the 
future,  to  hold  it  in  trust  for  those  coming  gen- 
erations which  shall  inherit,  not  only  its  present 
worth,  but  that  increment  of  betterment  which  we 
have  been  able  to  bring  about. 

[382] 


skventeen]  conclusion 


I  have  come  to  the  last  words  of  my  book,  and  I 
am  very  sorry  that  I  must  say  to  you  Good-by.  It 
is  not  as  an  author,  but  as  a  friend.  It  is  with  real 
regret  —  there  is  so  much  to  learn  and  to  talk  about 
in  these  new  homes  of  ours  that  one  never  gets  to 
an  end.  But  that  is  the  glory  of  it.  The  seasons 
are  not  a  dead  round  of  reiterated  buying  and 
selling,  but  each  year  unfolds  a  marvelous  display 
of  new  ideas.  All  hail  the  hillsides,  with  their 
breezes!  All  hail  the  valleys,  with  their  brooks! 
They  open  their  arms  to  new  homes,  better 
thoughts,  nobler  aspirations,  with  wiser  culture 
of  both  the  land  and  the  land-holder. 


THE    END  ^4  ^    <^ 

^'       N.  C.  State  CtOtfi 


THE   MoCLURK   PRESS,   NEW   YORK 


Countrp  i^ome 


THE  COUNTRY  HOME 

By  E.  P.  Powell.     Vol.  1 

A  practical  book  telling  how  to  establish  yourself  in  the 
country  and  get  the  most  profit  and  comfort  out  of  your 
homestead.  1  here  are  chapters  on  selecting  a  site  for  the 
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planting  of  gardens,  drainage  for  the  water  supply,  etc.,  etc. 
It  is  brimful  of  just  the  information  anyone  planning  life  in 
the  country  would  want. 

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THE    ORCHARD    AND 
FRUIT    GARDEN 

By  E.  P.  Powell.     Vol.  2 

A  volume  in  a  popular  practical  vein  on  the  selection  and 
cultivation  of  frmt-bearing  trees,  bushes  and  vines.  It  covers 
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prize  fruit-growers. 

FuUy  illustrated.     Postpaid,  $1.62;  net,  $1.50. 

THE    FLOWER    GARDEN 

By  Ida  D.  Bennett.     Vol.  3 


plete  hand-book  of  garden  lore  by  a  practical  garden- 
an  covering  all  points  about  the  selection  of  the  site, 

garden,  choosing  of  flowers  ; 

hem. 

Postpaid,  $1.62;  net,  $1.50. 


A  com] 
ing  woman  covering  all  points 

laying  out  of  the  garden,  choosing  of  flowers  and  the  cultiva 
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Q^cCIure,  Pl)illips!  &  Co-,  il5ett)  gorfe. 


